Ed Kennedy is only nineteen years old, but already he feels his life is going nowhere. He drives a cab, shares a run-down apartment with his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman, and his social life consists of playing cards with friends who are on the same track he is. He’s also in love with his best friend, Audrey, but he can’t tell her, so he watches as she dates other men who are bad for her.

Then Ed happens to foil a bank robbery, and someone takes notice. His life begins to change when the ace of diamonds arrives in his mailbox along with a cryptic message. As Ed work his ways through a series of cards and tasks that continue to arrive on his doorstep, he’s taken deeper into the mystery of who is sending the cards and why.

In I Am the Messenger, Markus Zusak’s straight-forward storytelling takes the reader right into the gritty realities of Ed’s life and the lives of the people he comes into contact with through the playing cards. Each card Ed receives asks to be a little more involved in the lives of others, often in uncomfortable ways for him. As Ed sets out to complete the task he believes the card is asking him to complete, he ponders not just what he wants to do with his life, but more importantly, what kind of person he wants to be.