Blink & Caution

Blink & Caution
by Tim Wynne-Jones


Blink is a street kid. We first meet him as he's trying to steal breakfast from a downtown hotel. While there he witnesses a crime and even enters the room where the crime took place. Stupidly, he steals a cellphone that was left behind and ends up mired in a very dicey situation. Helping him out of the mess is Caution, a girl consumed with guilt. She killed her brother in an extremely freak accident and can't get over it.

The action sometimes strains credibility, but it moves along briskly, with plenty of suspense thrown in. An interesting device is Wynne-Jones' addressing the reader directly as "You" as in You want to get close enough to look in just one window. Then without warning an enormous pair of arms wraps around your chest and holds you tight. In other words, the reader is Blink, making him even more real and authentic than other literary characters. You care about what happens to him, just as much as you care for Caution, whose streetsmarts still aren't enough to protect her from harm.