Customer Reviews

Blink & Caution

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After I read Tim Wynne- Jones' The Uninvited a couple of years ago, I've been looking forward to reading more by him, so when Blink & Caution landed on my radar, I jumped at the first chance I got to read it. Luckily enough, Blink & Caution is a thrilling and suspenseful novel about two teen runaways and the challenges they face.

Blink and Caution have both been living the hard life for the past year. For Blink that means roughing it on the streets, looking for the next way to get a quick, free meal and a place to stay, because after everything that happened at his home, he knows he's never going back. On the other side of town, Caution has been living with her sleazy, controlling, and drug dealing boyfriend, hoping that one day, she'll face enough pain to forget what happened when she was fifteen, the year she ran away from everyone and everything. Though, one day everything changes, Caution leaves her boyfriend once and for all, and Blink stumbles into a fake kidnapping. Now on the run, both of them are soon to find that there's even more surprises in store for them- one that may even land them in each others arms.

One of the most rewarding aspects in this novel was the rich and likable characters Tim had in Caution and Blink. Both are characters that you can't help but root for, especially when you find out about all the pain and suffering they've faced in the past. With that, I liked them even better when they finally found in each other in the story, because with each other, they discover a lot about themselves and each other and gain courage to speak up for themselves. Also, the adventures they have are priceless.

Adding to this, I loved the plot. I thought Tim did a great job of accurately describing the lives of two runaway teens, and what I liked even more was that he never sugar coated anything, instead he gave you a honest view about two very different teens. Further more, the way he tied in the fake-kidnapping mystery worked perfectly not only in the way it brought together they characters but it forever left the reader guessing about what would happen, especially within those last few chapters.

The only aspect of this novel I wasn't two found of was the way Tim brought you Blink and Caution's story. You see, while Caution's part is told in third person, Blink's is told in second person, and I found that to be a little odd and hard to into at times.

Lastly, at the core of this novel, Tim Wynne-Jones provokes some interesting questions and ideas, ones that I'm sure will lead to many conversations off page.

In all, Blink & Caution is an honest and addicting portrayal of two very different teens and the accidents that tie them together. Highly recommended.

Grade: B+

Tim Wynne-Jones delivers a fantastic and complex tale that blends and then merges the adventures of two very different, but equally damaged teen protagonists. The characters are fully realized, and the plot moves at a breath-taking and engaging pace. I really loved this book!

BLINK & CAUTION is the tale of two streets kids. Brent (Blink) and Kitty (Caution) both have back stories that have them on the run. When their paths cross, they work together to overcome the odds against them.

Blink was simply looking for a free breakfast when he took the elevator to the sixteenth floor of the hotel. It looked like there would be easy pickings from the half-eaten remains left on trays set outside the rooms. When he actually enters a room to investigate some odd behavior displayed by the exiting guests, he realizes he has witnessed a possible kidnapping. Once inside the room, Blink discovers a wallet filled with cash and a cell phone that reveals the kidnapped may not be the victim he assumed.

Having some ready cash is a welcome surprise, but the more Blink learns about the situation, the more nervous he becomes. His nerves prompt him to check out the cell phone more carefully. He actually contacts the "kidnap" victim's daughter in an attempt to reassure her that her father has not been harmed. That contact is one Blink soon comes to regret.

Caution has been living on the street and, more recently, with a drug dealer named Merlin. Attempting to run from a tragedy from her past, Caution is fully aware that she harbors a death wish, but at the same time she looks at death as an easy escape from the much harsher punishment that her guilt insists she deserves.

Caution is on the run after a fight with Merlin that ended in her discovery of his drug money stash. She can't believe they've been practically starving to death when he has had thousands of dollars hidden away. Anger and fear motivate Caution to grab the money and run.

Fate works to bring Blink and Caution together in the train station. After a bumpy first meeting, the two join forces to help each other. Caution provides the street smarts lacking in the naive Blink, and he supplies the funds to sustain their cause. As time passes, the two begin to trust one another with secrets as well as friendship.

Award-winning author Tim Wynne-Jones takes readers on an adventure with two young people living by their wits as they try to survive, and at the same time right a wrong. It is a story with twists and turns and definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

in a sentence or so: Caution is on the run from her abusive boyfriend and a past that hurts her more and more every day. Blink stumbled into a kidnapping while stealing breakfast from a hotel and is running towards the mystery. their paths will cross and their lives will change.

Blink is 16 and homeless. he's out nabbing breakfast from a hotel hallway one morning when he sees a kidnapping. only it isn't what he expected a kidnapping to look like. for instance, the man being taken seemed to be running the show. and he left his wallet and cell phone in the bloodless, yet obviously set up to look like a struggle, room. as Blink is trying to process this scene, the cell phone rings. it's the kidnapped man's daughter...and she's quite a looker. maybe it wouldn't hurt for him to pick it up and tell her what he knows...or thinks he knows...

Caution is 16 and living with a man named Merlin. now, while he has an incredibly awesome name, Merlin is no one to be a fan of. emotionally and physically abusive and using Caution as a drug mule, Merlin is your definition of scumbag. Caution ends up leaving him, but quite by accident really. once she's out the door, she realizes it's exactly what she needed...but she can't get away. Merlin knows where she is and will not be made a fool. plus, she stole his huge cash stash...so he's got more than enough motive to hunt her down.

Caution meets Blink when she scams him at the train station. she sees this clearly vulnerable boy with a nervous tick who's packing some serious cash. since her money is gone, she's in need of a little padding. all Blink sees an overly chatty girl with a bright blue jacket who just wants to have breakfast with him. Caution's conscience gets the better of her and they end up on the journey to unravel the bizarre kidnapping together.

Blink - who's real name is Brent - is told in second person. i thought initially that was to indicate mental illness, but i don't think that's what the author was getting at. not truly, anyway. Blink has a crappy past that's led him to a life on the street, but he has his wits about him. he's rough, he's hurt, and you pick up pieces of his past along the way.

Caution - who's real name is Kitty - grew up happy. like, storybook happy. but then she caused something so tragic and painful that wounded herself so deeply she feels unworthy of any kind of love.

the chapters alternated characters, which creates a parallel path of discovery before they unite in common purpose. you see where they came from before they come together and start anticipating what might happen when they do finally connect. they both pack so much grief and hurt independently, you'd think that together they would be overwhelmed. you'd be wrong (i was). they grow out of their grief together. they realize that it takes another person to truly invest in us to grow and remember that we deserve to love and be loved. they realize they need each other if Blink is going to get back to being Brent and Caution is going to get back to being Kitty.

i rooted for Blink and Caution independently, and even more so as a team. without being mushy or heavy handed, the read is blunt and says exactly what it means to say. we get the inner monologue of both characters, which is always nice, but there's also a creepy mystery driving the plot along.

at the core, this read was about love. Blink is so desperate for love you'd cringe if he weren't so endearingly unaware of it. Caution feels unworthy of love and can't imagine deserving anything but hurt, but is clearly a caring, thoughtful, and bright girl. their hurt was so tangible for me, which made me root for their own self-acceptance and openness to love all the more. Brent and Kitty will stick with me for a long time.

fave quotes (i usually do one, but since there are two narrators, it made sense to do two okay?):

"The goodness of people, the badness of people. She feels like some plaything of the angels: the kind ones and the fallen." (Caution: 128)

"You moan and twist and jerk, because what does he know about hurt? You are hurt - mightily injured. Not by this hold on you, but by life with its never-ending snares and pitfalls and dire consequences." (Blink: 237)

fix er up: the final resolution was a bit too neat and tidy. it was brief, yet fitting...but i wanted more. a nit-pick, i realize, but there you have it.

I considered giving BLINK & CAUTION three stars, then blinked. I thought a lot of the writing was five star, but grew cautious. Like the double-billed title, I'm of two minds. First, you should know that this tale of two street kids, one boy and one girl, in Toronto, is nicely written, especially for the YA genre. The characterization is solid, too. You feel as if you know both characters well -- especially Caution (real name: Kitty), who's a hard luck girl capable of playing hardball with the big boys.

What hurts the book is the plot. The Blink side of the story is the main driver, as young Blink witnesses the fake abduction of a business executive, then finds his leftover cellphone and calls the exec's daughter. She suggests he go to the family's mountain retreat to see if Dad truly is faking it, Blink does so and meets Caution, and then he runs into the bad guys. Trouble is, the "bad guys" aren't so bad and the whole gimmick of the kidnapping doesn't resonate truthfully. In short, deep into the book, the entire plot gets lost and the characters seem to bump into each other on stage looking for direction. Wynne-Jones brings it home, but his solution to the plot holes is to throw loose strings through them. For the reader, it all adds up to a shrug.

Adding to my ambivalence is the inclusion of a few edgy elements -- language and scenes -- early in the book. As is often the case in YA, they are frankly gratuitous. Oddly, the whole second half of the book, spare one brief scene where our heroes hold each other, reads clean as a middle-reader book. In the end, you have to appreciate the book for stylistic points and character charisma because they amount to the cavalry coming over the hill to rescue a muddled plot.

by Laura Forsythe

Sometimes, really liking a book can be worrisome. I worry because the book introduces me to new (imaginary) people, and I'm glad to have met them, but I don't know what's going to happen when I try to introduce them to my friends.

In Blink & Caution, I've just met these two kids who've been bumming around, a little down on their luck in downtown Toronto. One of them (the one with the eponymous Blinking tic) was just trying to swipe some gently used breakfast at the Plaza Regent hotel when he got himself mixed up in a major political-environmental scandal. The other one (code name Caution) has, by her own report, done pretty much every bad thing a kid her age could do, and she isn't likely to stop until one of these things succeeds in ending her. These aren't the kinds of friends one sets out to make, but once I opened the book there wasn't much choice but to care that they be okay and watch the avalanche of reasons it seems they won't be come tumbling down.

Friends, I can understand how you might not be immediately on board with befriending this pair, but they're not bad kids, really. They're just a little (okay, profoundly) lost.

Wynne-Jones wrote something about getting lost in the September/October 2002 issue of The Horn Book Magazine: "It is important to learn how to play at writing. To wander off the path. To get lost. Getting lost is something teachers might wish certain students would do, but the teachers are seldom prepared, pedagogically, to assist them in the process." Who knows if Blink and Caution were even a twinkle in their author's eyes when he wrote those words -- but they strike me as relevant to the journey of the book. When the novel begins, both Blink and Caution have long since elected to become lost to their respective families. Having become lost, they are perceived by the world either as irrelevant, threatening, or easy targets...or as threats who will be easy to squelch into irrelevancy.

There's a scene where Blink is trying to piece together the full magnitude of the crime in which he's implicated himself when the narrative voice observes: "If this were history class, you'd have given up by now. You'd be like an autumn fly on a hot windowsill, on your back, buzzing and kicking your last. But there is something about stolen knowledge that tastes different. No one is trying to spoon-feed you this stuff. It's complicated, but there isn't going to be a test. Well, not that kind of a test. Stick with it, Blink. See what you can make of it."

What I'm trying to tell you is this: don't assume you won't be into Blink & Caution. Don't assume you won't be into its combination of second and third person narration in the present tense or its esoteric Canadian environmental thingy or its teenagers carrying around big fat buckets of heavy life sorrow stuff. That's all part of Blink & Caution, but it doesn't read like a pretentious experiment in form, or a social studies textbook, or a sloppy sob story. It reads as though a guy who knew what he was doing but not where he was going sat down to write these two scuffed up kids into a world full of troubles and then watched to see just how lost they could get. He diligently recorded all the impossible things that somehow happened to them and the inevitable things that somehow didn't, and he wove it all snug into this thing that is just the right size -- vast enough to cover the landscape and small enough to curl into and hide. And when he knew that everything was going to be okay, that finally there was something really good for these kids to find, he said, "Here is a book. I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful."

And I think you will.

Tim Wynne-Jones has proven himself a master of the suspense genre in books like the Rex Zero series and novels for older readers such as THE UNINVITED. Now, in BLINK & CAUTION, he demonstrates that he can balance a complicated suspense plot with equally sophisticated character development, in what is simultaneously a road trip novel, a mystery, and a romance between two lost and damaged souls.

Blink (also known as Brent) has been living on the streets for a while now, fending for himself by sneaking into fancy hotels and rummaging through the detritus of room service trays. It's not such a bad life --- until hotel security finds you. Or, in the case of one pivotal morning, until you happen to witness a high-profile crime.

Blink is not sure what he sees when he happens upon a scuffle between a bunch of powerful-looking men. When he recovers their hotel room key, he comes across what looks like the aftermath of a robbery, not to mention a wallet stuffed with several hundred dollars in cash. But when Blink realizes that one of the men he saw leaving the hotel room under his own power is actually an investor supposedly nabbed in a high-stakes kidnapping, the things he saw with his own two eyes don't quite add up to the reports on the evening news. How can he leverage his eyewitness account (and the smartphone he stole from the victim) into a way off the streets?

Meanwhile, Caution ("as in Slippery When Wet; Caution, as in Harmful If Swallowed; Caution, as in Toxic") Pettigrew is also on the run. She's been convinced for months that she deserves nothing more than to die. But even though her drug-dealing boyfriend is a serious loser who beats her up plenty, he has so far failed to put her out of her misery. So when she comes into a little cash of her own, she takes her revenge on her boyfriend and seeks out the family she's been distancing herself from for months.

Before long, these two runaways on the streets of Toronto cross paths, and Caution convinces Blink to trust her, for better or for worse. As they travel outside the city to investigate the truth of the kidnapping claims, both start to let down the defenses they've so carefully constructed, revealing their true selves even as they uncover the truth about the crime.

Caution tells Blink at one point that she feels like "we're actually driving to somewhere that doesn't exist on a mission that can't be completed. That's purgatory maybe." Purgatory as a state of mind, as a condition of being alone, in between, aimless --- that's what drives this novel, and what brings Blink and Caution together. They're each so convinced of their lack of value that they don't quite know how to react when they begin to recognize value in each other.

BLINK & CAUTION is a fundamentally hopeful book, about the long road back from the darkest places to somewhere resembling hope. Tim Wynne-Jones pulls no punches in his descriptions of his protagonists' darkest days, but he also offers a compelling and convincing path to redemption for each of them.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl