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REVIEW: Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones

Posted by Anastasia on July 20, 2011 6 Responses »

Jul 202011

59. Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones
Publication: Candlewick Press (March 8, 2011), ARC, ~360pp / ISBN 0763639834
Genre: YA Fiction, Thriller

Read: June 29-30, 2011
Source: Publisher

Summary from Amazon:

Boy, did Blink get off on the wrong floor. All he wanted was to steal some breakfast for his empty belly, but instead he stumbled upon a fake kidnapping and a cell phone dropped by an “abducted” CEO, giving Blink a link to his perfect blonde daughter. Now Blink is on the run, but it \’s OK as long as he’s smart enough to stay in the game and keep Captain Panic locked in his hold. Enter a girl named Caution. As in “Caution: Toxic.” As in “Caution: Watch Your Step.” She’s also on the run, from a skeezy drug-dealer boyfriend and from a nightmare in her past that won’t let her go. When she spies Blink at the train station, Caution can see he’s an easy mark. But there’s something about this naive, skinny street punk, whom she only wanted to rob, that tugs at her heart, a heart she thought deserved not to feel. Charged with suspense and intrigue, this taut novel trails two deeply compelling characters as they forge a blackmail scheme that is foolhardy at best, disastrous at worst – along with a fated, tender partnership that will offer them each a rare chance for redemption.

Review

It’s silly to be intimidated by a book, but, well, I was. Tim Wynne-Jones does YA thrillers of the sort that make me nervous to go outside for a while after reading them, and in order to read one of his books I have to sort of trick myself into it. As I’m a coward, the tricking took a while to pull off. Anyway, it happened and I’ve now read it (obviously), and I’m glad I did because reading Blink & Caution was a lot of fun. It’s sort of something like how I make myself get on roller-coasters: it takes a while for me to get up the courage to go on one, but once I’ve been strapped into the seat I enjoy every heart-pounding minute.

Okay, so: Blink & Caution. Not as scary as The Uninvited, luckily, but it was way more emotionally punch-you-in-the-gut, with a good balance of fast-paced thrilling stuff (well, it IS a thriller). The writing style was interesting; Blink’s chapters are in second person POV and Caution’s is in third person. At first I thought that’d annoy me, but actually it just made the characters more distinct from each other, and, surprisingly, more like real people.

I loved the mix of mystery, action, emotion and suspense. I practically tore through the pages to find out what happened next, and I really enjoyed getting to know the protagonists. The ending is a happy one (is that a spoiler?), although it’s not the sort of ending where everything is tied up neatly and fixed to perfection. I will admit to feel somewhat dissatisfied with the last third of the book, which felt disproportionately slow for some reason. Maybe the bad guy’s plot reveal just felt too…obvious? I don’t know. I’m glad the characters turned out okay, but it did feel a bit “meh” after so much excitement/thrills/etc.

I suppose that’s to be expected, though. The end of a really good roller-coaster always feels somewhat disappointing, because the fun is ending. But does that mean that the fun never happened? No. It jut means that I’m sad the ending of a good time had to happen, and that’s what’s going on here.

Blink & Caution was really a lot of fun, and hopefully the next time I read a Tim Wynne-Jones book I’ll remember that and won’t need to trick myself into getting on the roller-coaster.

Rating

Really liked it.

Buy

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Other reviews

Annette’s Book Spot: “Wynne-Jones tells it like it is. These are not romanticized runaways on a fun, light-hearted adventure. Every day is a struggle, but I also found myself caring deeply about these kids. You really want everything to work out for them, but through most of the book it doesn’t seem very likely.”

Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf: “One of the most rewarding aspects in this novel was the rich and likable characters Tim had in Caution and Blink. Both are characters that you can’t help but root for, especially when you find out about all the pain and suffering they’ve faced in the past. With that, I liked them even better when they finally found in each other in the story, because with each other, they discover a lot about themselves and each other and gain courage to speak up for themselves.”

Notes

Does anyone else get intimidated by a book/author/genre? I can’t be the only one, can I?

TSS (March 28): Black Jack & Skin Hunger

Posted by Anastasia on March 28, 2010 No Responses »

Mar 282010

I have two exams next week but I’m not particularly worried about them, so I spent today reading books instead of studying. I hope THAT doesn’t come back to bite me in the butt.

Specifically, I read two books I had gotten through inter-library loan and needed to return soon: Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey and Black Jack by Leon Garfield. I thought instead of doing separate reviews posts for them I’d jsut talk about them a bit here.

I came across Skin Hunger through a Tor.com post, I think, though I neglected to note down the exact post in my Rec’d by Others thing, so I can’t say for sure. Anyway, I wasn’t entirely disappointed by it, but it certainly wasn’t what I expected it to be.

I really liked the writing; it was very atmospheric and conveyed creepiness excellently, but nothing happens. It’s like the whole book was a prologue for something else, and while it was a nice prologue, it didn’t really lead anywhere. I had no idea wtf was happening, honestly, until I read the summary (which I obviously hadn’t done before). THEN it made sense. A lot more sense! And I liked the book much better after it made more sense.

But why didn’t the book itself, y’know, tell me wtf was going on? Did I just skip something entirely in the narrative, or was I supposed to make a connection and never did? I think it might have been that last thing- I could see an obvious connection between Sadima and Hahp, but I couldn’t figure out what that connection was. Maybe I’m…stupid? I don’t know. I don’t think I am, but I can’t help but feel I should have picked up on stuff. Going back over it after reading the summary I can obviously see the clues that should have told me what was going on, but I just never made the connections.

Anyway, if you make sure to read the summary before you read the book, I’m sure you’ll have a better time of it than I did. It’s a really good book! It’s dark and borders on depressing, and ain’t no-one happy in it, but it was enthralling. I definitely want to read the next one and see what happens.
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Review: Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks (2005)

Posted by Anastasia on November 17, 2008 1 Response »

Nov 172008

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
Publication (US): Harcourt Paperbacks (2008), Paperback, 560 pages / ISBN 0152061851
Genre: YA, Thriller, Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
Find @ Amazon, swap sites

I picked this up at Barnes and Noble on Saturday, mainly because it had such a high page count for a low-ish price. Also, shiny cover. I am easily swayed by shiny covers.

Summary borrowed from Amazon:

“At age seven, child prodigy Cadel Piggott lands in a shrink’s office for illegal computer hacking, where psychologist Thaddeus Roth delivers startling counsel: “Next time, don’t get caught.” Thaddeus is an agent of Cadel’s real father, a brilliant crook who, from behind bars, manages to place Cadel at the secretive Axis Institute for World Domination. By 13, Cadel is earnestly studying “Infiltration, Misinformation, and Embezzlement,” but as he increasingly relies on an outside friendship, he privately plots to extricate himself from the paterfamilias.”

Happily enough, Evil Genius turned out to be rather a decent read. It starts off quite slow, when Cadel’s around age seven. Luckily it speeds through four or so years until he gets to high school, then again when he gets to the Axis Institute. It really picks up around page 300, which leads to a fantastic action-packed ending that meant I couldn’t put the book down. I had to know what happened next now. Thank god for that, though; I think if it had been any slower I would have been bored (I very nearly was in the first 100 pages, anyway. Not completely bored, though, just hanging on the edge of it).