Deadfall

Written by Anna Carey

Narrated by Emma Galvin

In the compelling sequel to Blackbird, Anna Carey delivers a gritty and adrenaline-filled story of a girl desperate to escape her mysterious and terrifying assailants. Told in second person, this heart-pounding thriller puts the reader in front of the target, and is perfect for fans of The Maze Runner and Legend.

A week ago, you woke up in Los Angeles with no memory of who you are. The only thing you knew: people are trying to kill you. You put your trust in Ben, but he betrayed you and broke your heart. Now you’ve escaped to New York City with a boy named Rafe, who says he remembers you from before. But the two of you are not safe. The same people who are after you are tailing Rafe as well. As the chase heats up, your memory starts to return, but your past cannot save you from the terrifying circumstances of your present, or the fact that one wrong move could end this game forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9780062365811

Anna Carey

Anna Carey is an Irish Book Award-winning novelist, journalist, editor and scriptwriter who spent her teens and twenties playing in bands. She is the author of seven acclaimed novels for young adults. Her debut novel The Real Rebecca won the Senior Children's Book of the Year prize at the 2011 Irish Book Awards and her last book The Boldness of Betty was shortlisted for the same award in 2020. Her drama podcast The Famine Monologues was released by RTÉ in 2021 and her play The Making of Mollie was staged in 2024. Our Song, her first book for adults, published in June 2025 and was shortlisted for Popular Fiction Book of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards. Her second romance novel, Love Scene, will publish in summer 2026. She is married to her former bandmate Patrick Freyne and lives in Dublin.

[Leandrodlg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Simply perfect. It’s clear to me.

After reading the first one, I knew I would like this one, but I didn’t expect it to impress me as much as it did. Once again, it’s a frantic story, full of emotion that makes you unable to take your eyes off the reading for even a second.

Anna breaks the clichés, an original story with exciting characters. Again, I applaud the fact that it is written in the second person, which completely immerses you in all the events.

As for the ending, excellent. Although personally, I’m one of those who hates all endings and is always left wanting more, I feel it was the best way to conclude the story.

If you haven’t read it... what are you waiting for? Go read it; you won’t regret such a story. (Translated from Spanish)

[CherryBlossom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

?This is the second book of a duology, which consists of Black Bird "pursued" and this book which is Deadfall "trapped."?

?The truth is, I had no hope for this book. I thought I wasn't going to like it and that it would simply disappoint me, but I was wrong; it left me speechless.?

?In this book, all the doubts and questions that arose in Black Bird are resolved, which makes it quite satisfying and impossible to put down.?

?If you haven't read this duology, I highly recommend it!?

?SPOILER ALERT?

?I loved Rafe with all my being, to the point that when he died, I curled up and couldn't continue reading for 30 minutes after crying.?

?Without a doubt, Rafe is a unique, tender, and quite sincere character who managed to win me over.?

?The ending of this book broke me; it was undoubtedly one of the best books I read this year and one of the best I've read in my entire life....?

?QUOTES?

"Your name. Your name. There was a time when you wanted to know it more than anything in the world, and now that you know it, it awakens no memories. No associations, no feelings."

"There are people who can disappear, and it’s as if... as if they don’t matter to anyone. As if they never existed."

?Reading started: June 21, 2019?
?Reading finished: July 3, 2019?

?5/5? (Translated from Spanish)

[Mydreamergirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The continuation of Blackbird is everything we could expect from it. A quick read, with short chapters and we continue with the second-person narration. Finally, we are given information about the main character, quickly dispelling the notion left by the first book. We are given a name, a family history, and the way she was kidnapped.

This second book is dedicated to providing all the answers we asked for in the first book. Names, reasons for why this hunting event was created, who is involved, and more. So for this simple reason, the book improves, even if just a little.

However, this book still has the same problems with its characters, with whom I couldn’t empathize at any moment. Lena and Ben remain flat characters that lack interesting development, and when you add to this the new characters that feel like they were included just to add to the crowd, it doesn’t help. The character that appears in this book who has a reason to exist is Rafe, whose mission is to help Lena with her memories and tell her who she is. Even the man who is leading this hunt feels flat. He is neither feared nor hated for what he is doing. We know that what he is doing is wrong, but nothing more is conveyed.

Undoubtedly, this duology lacks well-constructed characters that don’t feel empty. Because without a doubt, its story is good, engaging, and improves in this installment, but without good characters, the story does not work. (Translated from Spanish)