School Library Journal Starred Review (Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2015)

Gr 9 Up-After her older brother almost kills someone in a bar fight and disappears, Frances, a promising young artist, starts seeing strange things in her drawings. They materialize out of nowhere after she blacks out. She can't figure out why these images are hazy and impreciseuntil she puts one of them under a scanner, and learns with the help of her mentor Peter, another "messenger," that each one reveals where and when someone is going to die. Peter's convinced that they're just a couple of killers, but Frances might have a plan to change all that, using their premonitions to save lives rather than end them, and maybe find her brother, presumed dead, in the process. But do they have the power, or the right, to change fate? That's only one of the weighty questions explored in this clever page-turner. VERDICT A mash-up of philosophy, mystery, and horror, this haunting YA novel takes on all of these subjects with satisfying results. Georgia Christgau, Middle College High School, Long Island City, NY

ALA Booklist

Frances doesn't know why she blacks out, or why she feels compelled to draw afterward, as if she is not in control of her own hand. But when she meets Peter, who seems to suffer from the same condition, she learns something disturbing: the pictures she draws reveal the moment someone dies, and she is responsible for relaying the message. At first, it's just the neighborhood cat, but then it's an elderly man she has seen on the quay. Peter is resigned to his role, routinely delivering the pictures to people in their English seaside town, but Fran is filled with guilt and determined to prevent the deaths. As she meddles with fate, she learns there are some things she just can't change, particularly when it comes to her own family. In a dry first-person narrative, Fran relates her anger over her newfound curse and her dogged quest to change the future. Though Fran's feelings for Peter don't seem to make sense, there are enough gothic elements to this fantasy thriller to keep fans of the genre satisfied.

Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2015)

After Frances's troubled brother runs away, she's sent to her aunt's coastal-England home for the summer. There she meets Peter, who helps her understand her strange visions and her identity as a fellow "messenger" of death. As Frances hones her power, readers are offered an interesting examination of the value of human life, death, and fate in this mysterious and haunting novel.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Frances's blackouts are becoming more frequent and confusing. It works like this: she loses consciousness, and when she comes to, she is compelled to draw. The scenes make sense to her but look like abstract art to any other viewerthat is, until she meets Peter, a twenty-something beach artist who can see her drawings for what they are: death scenes. Frances is a messenger, and the blackouts are evidence of her growing talents. For each scene she creates, she must track down the victim to deliver the "message." If she does not cooperate, very real consequences await her loved ones. In what was supposed to have been a summer of escape from her unstable family, Frances must now submit to Peter's training and fight her growing feelings for him in order to protect the ones she loves. She does not have much time, either, because her hardest case is soon to come.The Messengers is compelling in concept in that each person receives a sign of his or her death before the event. Frances's first two kills are a cat and an elderly man, and she struggles with the enormity of her actions. While the plot is interesting, the characters fall flat; as a result the story feels underdeveloped. It is a quick, adventurous read, but many readers will find it difficult to invest in Frances's struggles. Because the potential for philosophical depth is not realized, the book feels mostly like a string of death scenes.Courtney Huse Wika.