Ed’s life: drive drunks home, play cards with his three best friends (Marv, Ritchie, and Audrey—the latter he loves hopelessly), and lose. Every hand. Every race. Every chance.

ED: “I want to know why.”

In the last section (The Ace of Hearts), Ed tracks down the mastermind behind the cards. He discovers a reclusive author—a stand-in for Markus Zusak himself—who has been watching Ed, writing his story, and sending the cards as an experiment in narrative control. The character tells Ed, “You are the messenger. Now you have to find your own message.”