Markus Zusack, an author from Australia, is most well known for his novel The Book Thief, which was recently put on the big screen. His previous novel I Am the Messenger easily rivals it in terms of hooking readers, although the plot is completely different.

I Am the Messenger tells the story of Ed Kennedy, an underage cabdriver who, like many other protagonists, is in love with his best friend. In the middle of his drab life, Ed inadvertently stops a bank robbery and is proclaimed a hero. Afterwards, he receives a playing card in the mail with instructions. The cards keep coming, and the tasks continue to get harder as Kennedy realizes he’s being called to help strangers throughout the city. While he’s grasping at straws to figure out how to help these people, he’s also unsure of who is sending these cards, and why they chose an un-extraordinary person like himself.

This book is one that is absolutely impossible to put down, and even after you’ve finished it, you’ll be talking about it for weeks. Both Kennedy and the people he helps grow to lead bigger lives than they thought they could. With enough twists and turns to create a maze and Kennedy’s dark humor narration, I Am the Messenger is a novel for everyone, at any age, and any stage of life. You just might discover you could save someone, with or without a playing card.