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 I've been a huge fan of Michael Grant ever since I read Gone years ago and I was absolutely dying to read Messenger Of Fear. This series opener is just as strange and original as one would expect from Grant who gave multitudes of readers nightmares from his books. Messenger Of Fear is a fast-paced, intense book that I was immediately drawn into due to Grant's ability to create such a creepy, peculiar atmosphere. I'm usually not a fan of books in which vengeance is dealt out, but I really enjoyed Messenger Of Fear and read it less in less than a day. 
 Mara wakes up to find out that she no longer remembers anything about her life and that she is being accompanied by the Messenger Of Fear. The Messenger is extremely cryptic and refuses to tell her anything about her past or anything substantial. Mara soon finds out that the Messenger's duty is to enact vengeance on evil-doers and she becomes immersed in the life of several teens. The Messenger gives each evil-doer a choice to play a game and have a chance of winning or accept punishment automatically. 
 Messenger Of Fear reminds me of another novel that I've read this year: Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre, but I enjoyed MoF far more. Grant writes a much more thrilling story about vengeance without sending out any problematic messages about society. The whole idea of the Messenger, an avenger who is sent to help spread justice and strike fear into the hearts of teens was extremely interesting. I loved how even though the Messenger deals out justice, Grant allows readers to ponder whether two wrongs make a right. Is it okay to hurt a murder victim? At what point does revenge become unjust? 
 Messenger Of Fear is my favorite Michael Grant book, in terms of the writing style; the descriptions are wonderfully creepy and will strike fear into the hearts of readers everywhere. The imagery in this book is so eerie and though I was never truly scared by this book, I do think MoF contains ingenious horror elements. The writing style in this one was very fluid and allowed me to become quickly addicted to this novel. 
 I love how much of an enigma the Messenger is to Mara and to readers, there was something so alluring about this character. Though we don't know much about him, I feel like there I really liked his character for some reason. The few moments in which we see another side of the Messenger and we see him as something human were some of my favorite moments in this book. I really enjoyed his character and I hope that much more is revealed about his character, but not so much that he loses his mysterious aura. I was apathetic to the rest of the characters and I felt that their characters hadn't been explored fully enough. 
 Messenger Of Fear ends on a huge cliffhanger, but the problem is that I saw this plot point coming from square one. I had a feeling that this would be the outcome and I didn't feel as though this cliffhanger was subtly planned. It felt so obvious to me that I have a feeling that other readers will see through this transparent plot device. 
 I really enjoyed Messenger Of Fear and this is a book that is definitely worth checking out. Grant is one of those authors that I have so much confidence in, I'd read nearly anything that he writes. I'm very excited to see what happens to Mara and the Messenger next and I just know it's going to be a wild, exciting ride! Though I had a few issues with the characterization and the cliffhanger, Messenger Of Fear is still a solid paranormal from one of my favorite authors.