REVIEW: A Girl Named Digit

A Girl Named Digit

Annabel Monaghan

Synopsis: Farrah Higgins spends most of her time masquerading as normal. A Los Angeles high school senior who left behind her geek self in another school district and calculated a successful formula for disguising her math genius so she can hang with the "in" crowd. "Digit" may be going to MIT in the fall but until then she's blending in at Santa Monica High and trying to be whatever equals "normal.”

But while watching her favourite hit television show she notices seemingly random numbers appear on the bottom of the screen. She quickly discovers a message that she shrugs off until a terrorist attack occurs at JFK airport and she realizes the
numbers directly correlated to the date and location of the bombing. She visits the FBI headquarters to explain what she saw, but she gets the "fruitcake" treatment from a young, hot agent, John Bennett.

Soon she's investigating on her own and being chased by terrorists. The FBI has to fake her kidnapping to free her from the terrorists, and suddenly her senior year has gotten a lot more interesting.

My thoughts: This was definitely an interesting story.  It seemed pretty average, except I couldn't put it down.  There is just something about it that kept me hooked.  I loved the action that seemed to start right away. 

Farrah is a really great character.  Kids at her old school, and her brother, call her "Digit" because of how smart she is with numbers.  Of course it is a ridiculous nickname, and I can understand her wanting to be known for more than just her brains.  I think I liked her more because she was so smart with numbers.  I have always loved math and working with numbers, although I am nowhere near as smart as Farrah.  I liked that she wasn't just book smart, she noticed things that others blew off as nothing.

I really enjoyed reading about the interactions between Farrah and John, the hot FBI agent assigned to hide and protect her.  He really seems to understand Farrah, and she opens up more and lets her "Digit" side show through.  John really works to keep Farrah safe, and works to figure out who has betrayed them.  I could really tell that he wasn't just protecting her for his job anymore; he really cared for her and wanted her to be safe.  He wasn't looking at her as just a job.  A few times I thought it was getting a little inappropriate between the two, but they never did cross the line, which I think is really important in a YA novel when one character is underage. 

I really enjoyed reading A Girl Named Digit.  The characters kept me interested, along with all of the action going on.  I liked reading about FBI business and terrorists.  This is a great short standalone novel.