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I Am the Messenger
I Am the Messenger
Nov 15, 2025 1:23 PM

Author:Markus Zusak

I Am the Messenger

From the author of The Book Thief comes this darkly funny and ultimately uplifting thriller which proves that anyone can be extraordinary.

Ed Kennedy is just your less-than-average Joe who is hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. But after he single-handedly manages to catch a bank robber, he receives a playing card in the mail: the Ace of Diamonds. This is the first message. Four more will follow. But before this particular card game can end, Ed will be changed forever . . .

Will Audrey love the man he has become?

Reviews

Zusak's fascination with morality and culpability is writ large throughout this pacy page turner

—— CSMA Club Magazine

When we read her, we enter the classical serenity of a new country

—— Robert Lowell

If ever there was a poet whose every scrap of writing should be in print, that poet must be Elizabeth Bishop

—— Christopher Reid

One of this century's most evocative writers

—— Anne Tyler

Marquez writes in this lyrical, magical language that no-one else can do

—— Salman Rushdie

An exquisite writer, wise, compassionate and extremely funny

—— Sunday Telegraph

A virtuoso display

—— Observer

[An] exquisite and suspenseful novel

—— Week

A page-turner, with a plot so engrossing that it seems reckless to pick the book up in the evening if you plan to get any sleep that night

—— A S Byatt , Daily Mail

Taut with narrative excitement and suspense...a novel of rich diversity that triumphantly integrates imagination and intelligence, rationality and emotional alertness

—— Sunday Times

He is the maestro at creating suspense: the particular, sickening, see-sawing kind that demands a kind of physical courage from the reader to continue reading

—— New Statesman

Deeply humane tale of memory, loss and the struggle to understand a family’s past… It’s a novel of generous warmth

—— Ben Felsenburg , Metro Herald

A beautiful, brilliant novel destined to cement Sue's place as one of the leading lights of the Scottish literary scene

—— Waterstones

Peebles' keen eye for social observation adds a comic touch to the narrative, expertly showing how black humour is used in bleak times.

—— Rowena McIntosh , The Skinny

Peebles writes poetic prose, capturing Aggie's imaginative character and her need to find meaning in the puzzle of circumstances she finds herself in. The insight into dementia and its impact upon a family is poignant, with Aggie desperate to recapture the history of a beloved Gran who is disappearing in front of her eyes. The novel strongly evokes the Scottish countryside, its link to the past and the secrets it keeps. The story may be a slow burner, but keep going because its gentle pace builds up to a satisfying conclusion

—— Penny Batchelor , We Love This Book

Aridjis tells an improbable tale with enough details to give it authenticity, and to make her genuinely creepy story something thoughtful and original

—— Lesley McDowell, 4 stars , Independent on Sunday

This is an incredibly atmospheric novel, seen through the eyes of Marie, a consummate outsider

—— Bath Chronicle

Aridjis is a fantastic new voice in fiction with a real gift for character and location

—— Bath Magazine

Set against London’s rain-soaked streets, it is an astute portrait of the alienation of urban life

—— Anna Savva, 4 stars , Lady

A beautiful tale examining the processes of life

—— Good Book Guide

Eschewing a conventional narrative, this absorbing novel deceptively contains a crackling energy within its understated, artful prose

—— Francesca Angelini , Sunday Times
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