Blink & Caution

Starred review from January 17, 2011
Wynne-Jones (The Uninvited) delivers a dazzling crime novel that evokes the taut writing and tropes of hard-boiled fiction while interweaving social justice themes and a solid sense of realism. Blink has been living on the streets ever since running away from his abusive stepfather. While on a foray into a hotel to scavenge for leftover room service food, he witnesses an oil executive's faked kidnapping and ends up getting involved as he realizes the implications of the crime. Along the way, he meets Caution, on the run both from her abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend and her guilt over the accidental shooting death of her brother. The two teens are caught up in environmental and racial issues that are far beyond their ability to remedy, and Wynne-Jones—often using a surprisingly effective second-person voice—focuses on their attempts to escape immediate danger and repair their internal emotional damage. Blink and Caution's gradual need to trust each other to heal drives the story forward, and should provide ample thrills to lovers of crime novels and strong teen characters. Ages 14–up.

February 1, 2011

Two teenagers hurt by life "with its never-ending snares and pitfalls and dire consequences" come together in this elegantly constructed noir mystery and love story. Blink is a scruffy street kid with "tea-colored eyes" trying to steal breakfast in a hotel when he witnesses what he believes is a fake kidnapping. Caution is a girl with "dove-colored eyes," who sees her relationship with badass drug dealer Merlin as penance for her past crimes. Separate narratives--with spot-on dialogue and an effective use of a second-person point of view--come together to unite the two characters in a breathtaking thriller as they search for the kidnapped businessman and maybe make a fair sum of money in the process. Blink and Caution are good people with tough lives, each in a kind of purgatory and each turning out to be just what the other needs. Together they make peace with their pasts and cobble together a future. Wynne-Jones' finest, most beautifully written novel yet, one more in a career full of distinguished works. (afterword) (Mystery. YA)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 What might have been a typical tale of urban desperation is turned into something more expansive and frequently beautiful, courtesy of Wynne-Jones sensitive and perceptive writing. Street punk Blink, 16, so named for a fluttering facial tic, is having a normal daysneaking into hotels and ransacking hallways for leftover food trayswhen a discarded room key provides him with surprise information regarding a high-profile kidnapping hoax. In a parallel story line, 16-year-old Caution flees her abusive drug-dealing boyfriend, hitting the road with a wad of cash and retribution biting at her heels. The two hook up midbook, and their initial antagonism quickly turns into an unspoken understanding that by helping each other, they will find redemption. With its offscreen corporations and a handful of interchangeable goons, the plot never fully catches fire. But everything else is terrific: the short, punchy sentences Wynne-Jones fires like buckshot; the joy, fear, and doubt that punctuate the teens every action. This is gritty, sure, but more than that, its smart, and earns every drop of its hopeful finish.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2011
"It's as if you always knew something like this would happen to you one day...You'd stumble on to something, and instead of running away from it, you'd pick it up and run with it, follow it to the end." While lurking in a Toronto hotel hallway, hunting for room-service remains to eat for breakfast, a street kid who calls himself Blink happens upon a high-profile kidnapping in progress -- or is it a fake kidnapping in progress? Blink's story, told in compelling second-person narration, alternates and then intersects with that of another runaway, Caution -- "She was the one who came up with the name Caution for herself. Caution, as in Slippery When Wet...Caution, as in Toxic." Both teens have opted for the gritty life of the streets over trouble at home. (Blink is running from domestic violence; Caution from guilt over an accidental shooting death.) Though it loses focus in the end, the crime-drama element of the novel, involving a dispute over corporate uranium mining on Indian-owned land, has enough suspense and action to keep readers interested while they forge a connection with the main characters, whose relationship deepens as they help each other survive immediate dangers as well as the aftereffects of past trauma. christine m. heppermann

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from February 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-Blink and Caution are two teenage runaways in Toronto. Blink is getting by day to day by stealing breakfast leftovers from room-service trays in a fancy hotel when he accidentally observes a faked kidnapping of a wealthy CEO. Caution is on the run from an abusive and possessive drug-dealer boyfriend when she meets Blink. She falls in with him at first because she thinks he will be an easy mark, but finds herself strangely drawn to him. Blink, however, is obsessed with the kidnapping he witnessed, and the media storm surrounding it. To solve the mystery, the teens travel to a remote cabin, where they find that they are in over their heads, and it will take all of their cunning and street smarts to make it out alive. In this edgy, suspenseful read, Wynne-Jones does an excellent job of portraying the pair's budding relationship as they learn to trust one another in highly charged circumstances. The story is told in alternating viewpoints, with Blink's segments in second-person present tense, which adds a heightened sense of immediacy and urgency, though it may take some getting used to for readers unfamiliar with the style. Those who enjoy thought-provoking thrillers will not want to miss this novel.-Misti Tidman, formerly at Boyd County Public Library, Ashland, KY

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.