Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: Review and Giveaway

There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away. 

That’s why they make the perfect assassins.

The Institute finds these people when they’re young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.

Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute’s monitoring. But now they’ve ID’ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can’t make the hit. It’s as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are—because no one else ever notices them.

Goodreads Summary

How would you feel if you were a "Nobody?"  A Nobody is someone theoretically ignored by society...someone whose presence has no real impact on others in the room. Claire is a Nobody, but she doesn't know it quite yet.  She has lived her entire life being ignored by the people around her...even her parents.   When she is targeted by a strange association, she isn't sure how to react.  She is further confused by the fact that her assassin is the first person in her life to notice her.  Claire's character was nice enough, but it felt like she literally lacked substance to me.  The majority of what the reader will likely glean from her point of view in the novel is her actions, not so much her real thoughts.  She was my favorite character, however.

 Nix has an assignment and he rarely gets to know his assignments.  He probably wouldn't describe himself as a cold-blooded killer, but he has had his moments-many of them.  When he realizes that Claire just might be a Nobody like him, he begins to question the entire system he was raised under.  Why is he killing his own kind?  Who is Claire and why does the agency find her so important that she must be killed?  Nix's character was a little hard to like, at first.  He really does try to kill Claire and doesn't seem to have many moral issues with the act.  However, he slowly warms up to both Claire and the reader.  I still didn't like him, personally, but he wasn't a terrible character of love interest.  He is portrayed as someone who has had little contact with the outside world and the author crafts his character in such a way that he succeeds in proving his background.

The plot itself was very unique.  I can say that I don't think I have come across any other books written quite the same way.  I really loved the concept that there could be people in our world deemed "invisible" and literally unseen-this concept could be extrapolated to the less well-off parts of society, perhaps.  Overall, I thought this novel was worth a read and would recommend Nobody to middle grade/teen readers. 

3 Stars

This product or book may have been distributed for review, this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

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