BLACKBIRD

A young woman runs from unknown enemies in this heart-pounding mystery.

Sunny (real name unknown) wakes on a Los Angeles subway track, a train hurtling toward her and no memory of who she is or how she got there. She escapes before the police can ask questions but quickly finds herself fleeing violent strangers who seem hell-bent on killing her. She has few clues to her identity: a blackbird and a short string of numbers and letters freshly tattooed on her wrist and a knapsack containing a small notebook in which a cryptic message instructs her to call an unfamiliar phone number, $1,000 in cash, a pocketknife and a can of Mace. Dreams of running from danger with a boy she doesn’t recognize but with whom she may have been in love could hold the key to Sunny’s past. The action never stops, as Sunny is framed for robbery and arson, while a mysterious man focused on revenge hunts her down. Sunny’s story is told through a flawless second-person narration, but the use of third-person to convey the viewpoints of several secondary characters knocks readers out of the carefully constructed, intensely immediate position of protagonist.

This edgy, action-packed thriller gives future genre offerings something to aspire to.