The Hit (Boy Nobody) by Allen Zadoff
Posted: 28 Feb 2015, 21:32
Disclaimer: I obtained this eBook from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange of my honest review.
Title: The Hit (Boy Nobody)
Author: Allen Zadoff
Series: The Unknown Assassin #1
My rating: 5 stars
The Hit (aka Boy Nobody/I Am The Weapon) by Allen Zadoff is a fast-paced and action-packed thriller for young adult. It talks about a 16-year-old assassin who is trained to kill the assigned target and leave the scene without leaving any mark behind.
The story starts with one of the assignments which is assigned to the main character (our narrator of the story). His usual job involves the following tasks:
Enter the area which contains the mark and the target.
Approach and gain trust from the mark (usually is the child of the target) and avoid connections with anyone else.
Integrate and get chance to approach the target.
And finally, complete the assignment - i.e. to kill the target.
After finishing his assignment, he'll need to leave the scene immediately and wait for the instruction from the Program for his next assignment. Every time, he'll be given a new identity (new name and new background) for each of the new assignments. So before we know the real name of the boy near the end of the story, he is known as Benjamin in the mission that the book is focusing in.
Ben (I don't want to reveal his real name here) is trained by the Program since 12 years old after the death of his parents (particularly his father). He was recruited into the Program because he matches the list of personality characteristics that is appropriate to become a "solder" (more like assassin to me). The training provided by the Program is extensive with physical, strategy and psychological training.
The background of the Program didn't discuss broadly in this book but based on the assignments given to Ben, one can deduce that the Program could be a secret group either hired to kill for economic/political purpose or it could be run by someone from the Homeland Security to get rid of their political obstacles and avoid getting their hands dirty.
The mission that is the central focus of the story requires Ben to approach Samara Goldberg, the daughter of the mayor of New York, Jonathan Goldberg. In another word, Sam is the mark and the mayor is the target.
Ben is trained not to leave any traces of him behind when he executes any mission. This includes connections with any other person apart from the mark and the target, and not to have any emotional attachment with them as well. But in this assignment, Ben acted out of the rules given by the Program.
When I read through the story, I can't imagine I'm actually reading a narration by a 16 year old teens. He is far more matured and skillful as a kid. This is most probably due to the training given by the Program, he is no longer a 11th grade high school student but a badass and highly skilled assassin. He assesses his surroundings and situations to plan for his action, but on the other hand, he is trained to act based on instinct.
Even though he looks cold hearted at times when he executes his missions, but sometimes he would show emotions like he is longing for his childhood memories with his parents that makes him seems more human.
The twist turning in the plot near the end of the story is not shocking but startled me a bit and I personally like the ending as it has no cliffhanger even though I know there'll be sequels in the series. Another thing I like about the writing of the author is that it is straight forward with no excess info-dump. Anyone who is impatient will greatly love this book and enjoy reading it much. This is another book that kept me awake in the middle of the night just to read more chapters.
Highly recommended to readers who like fast-paced and action-packed thrillers. Don't get restricted just because it is another YA book, this is definitely not a stereotype or typical YA.
This review is originally posted on my blog.
Title: The Hit (Boy Nobody)
Author: Allen Zadoff
Series: The Unknown Assassin #1
My rating: 5 stars
The Hit (aka Boy Nobody/I Am The Weapon) by Allen Zadoff is a fast-paced and action-packed thriller for young adult. It talks about a 16-year-old assassin who is trained to kill the assigned target and leave the scene without leaving any mark behind.
The story starts with one of the assignments which is assigned to the main character (our narrator of the story). His usual job involves the following tasks:
Enter the area which contains the mark and the target.
Approach and gain trust from the mark (usually is the child of the target) and avoid connections with anyone else.
Integrate and get chance to approach the target.
And finally, complete the assignment - i.e. to kill the target.
After finishing his assignment, he'll need to leave the scene immediately and wait for the instruction from the Program for his next assignment. Every time, he'll be given a new identity (new name and new background) for each of the new assignments. So before we know the real name of the boy near the end of the story, he is known as Benjamin in the mission that the book is focusing in.
Ben (I don't want to reveal his real name here) is trained by the Program since 12 years old after the death of his parents (particularly his father). He was recruited into the Program because he matches the list of personality characteristics that is appropriate to become a "solder" (more like assassin to me). The training provided by the Program is extensive with physical, strategy and psychological training.
The background of the Program didn't discuss broadly in this book but based on the assignments given to Ben, one can deduce that the Program could be a secret group either hired to kill for economic/political purpose or it could be run by someone from the Homeland Security to get rid of their political obstacles and avoid getting their hands dirty.
The mission that is the central focus of the story requires Ben to approach Samara Goldberg, the daughter of the mayor of New York, Jonathan Goldberg. In another word, Sam is the mark and the mayor is the target.
Ben is trained not to leave any traces of him behind when he executes any mission. This includes connections with any other person apart from the mark and the target, and not to have any emotional attachment with them as well. But in this assignment, Ben acted out of the rules given by the Program.
When I read through the story, I can't imagine I'm actually reading a narration by a 16 year old teens. He is far more matured and skillful as a kid. This is most probably due to the training given by the Program, he is no longer a 11th grade high school student but a badass and highly skilled assassin. He assesses his surroundings and situations to plan for his action, but on the other hand, he is trained to act based on instinct.
Even though he looks cold hearted at times when he executes his missions, but sometimes he would show emotions like he is longing for his childhood memories with his parents that makes him seems more human.
The twist turning in the plot near the end of the story is not shocking but startled me a bit and I personally like the ending as it has no cliffhanger even though I know there'll be sequels in the series. Another thing I like about the writing of the author is that it is straight forward with no excess info-dump. Anyone who is impatient will greatly love this book and enjoy reading it much. This is another book that kept me awake in the middle of the night just to read more chapters.
Highly recommended to readers who like fast-paced and action-packed thrillers. Don't get restricted just because it is another YA book, this is definitely not a stereotype or typical YA.
This review is originally posted on my blog.