In the first of a duology, Anna Carey (the Eve trilogy) immediately drops readers into the initial of many thrills when an amnesiac girl--who adopts the name Sunny--wakes up on train tracks in Los Angeles. Sunny narrowly escapes being hit by a train, but the pursuits of assailants and police won't be as easy.
All Sunny has at the beginning is a bloody T-shirt, a fresh tattoo on her wrist of a blackbird, and a code she can't decipher, plus a backpack containing a pocketknife, food and a tiny black notepad with a message instructing her not to contact the police. She soon meets Ben, who offers her a place to hide after a woman tries to kill her. The few memories that return to Sunny feel foreign, such as one of a poorly attended funeral, and another of a boy promising, "I won't let them hurt you." But when Sunny asks the police for help, they discover a warrant for her arrest in San Francisco for arson. Is Sunny as innocent as readers and Ben are led to believe?
Sunny's identity may be a mystery, but readers will easily identify with her frustration and determination through the immersive second-person point-of-view Carey employs. Ben tempts her to begin anew with him, but Sunny remains focused on discovering who she is and why she's being hunted. Blackbird will have readers' heart rates accelerating with the romantic possibilities and exciting chases. Readers are in for an unstoppable thrill ride in this game of trust. --Adam Silvera, children's bookseller