Book Review: Blackout by Meredith McCardle

Blackout (Annum Guard #2)
Author:  Meredith McCardle
Publisher:  Amazon Children's
Expected Publication Date:  January 13, 2015
*ARC received from publisher via NetGalley

From Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Amanda Obermann (code name: Iris) has more on her mind than usual. As a member of a covert government organization called the Annum Guard, which travels through time to keep history on track, Iris has been getting some particularly stressful assignments. Plus, Jane Bonner, the Guard’s iron-fisted new leader, seems determined to make life as hard as possible. Thankfully, Iris has Abe (code name: Blue), her boyfriend and fellow Guardian, who listens to her vent—and helps her cope with her mentally ill mother’s increasingly erratic behavior.

When Guardians start to disappear on their assignments, Iris makes a terrifying discovery: a “blackout” squad is targeting anyone who gets in the way of a corrupt force that’s selling out both the Annum Guard’s missions and Guardian lives. Together, Iris and Blue must go undercover to untangle the Guard’s elaborate web of secrets and lies. But when Iris discovers that the terrible truth may involve her own father, a former Guardian undone by his own greed, she must decide how much she’s willing to risk to rescue her friends…and how dangerous the consequences will be for all of humanity.

A thrilling time-traveling adventure that spans from Abraham Lincoln’s assassination to the Cuban Missile Crisis and back to the present day, this pulse-pounding sequel to The Eighth Guardian reveals that playing with time can turn into a deadly game.

Review:

I liked the second book in this time travel series.  Amanda and the other members of the Annum Guard are trying to figure out who is behind the group that used them to change time for profit.  And now other members are disappearing.  Where are they?  Are they dead?  Non-stop action as Amanda jumps to different places in time to find the answers.

Fast-paced plot which I enjoyed, and most of the time Amanda is a likable heroine, but she keeps too many secrets from the rest of the group, which was frustrating. Now Abe is in the picture as a fellow time traveler, but I'm lukewarm about him because I just didn't feel like I got to know him that well.  And I did have some questions about the time travel rules (there did to be one inconsistency with same place/same time rule), and especially the time that passes when you're in the past and how that affects when you get back to the future.  I was confused.  

That ending…gah!  Evil cliffhanger, I have to say.  If you like time travel books, you'll like this series.

Posted by:  Pam