by A.D. Metcalfe

A Mystery/Thriller, 2025 by Calumet, 323 Pages 

What I Didn’t Like:

• The author, when requesting a review, told us this was a mystery/thriller for adults. Respectfully, this seems more geared toward young adults. Also, it reads more as a general fiction than it does a thriller. It’s a coming of age type story. This can be problematic, as we feel like correctly identifying an audience and age category is important. 
• Parts of this one felt too cliche. I’ll say I knew a lot of people like these characters over the years. This felt more like a Hollywood depiction of gangs and less like reality. Of course, not everyone’s experiences are the same.
• Johnny, I wanted to like you. But the way he just automatically does what he’s asked without even an inner thought about what this changes, even though he’s smart, bugged me. But what really disconnected me from him was the way he treated Jessica. I was immediately not on his side. Of course, we also didn’t read the first book. It’s possible you liked him coming into this one and that could affect our rating.
• Some odd formatting and one weird time jump. This seems to have been formatted for paperback and it doesn’t translate well to ebook, sometimes putting the page number or the header in the middle of the text. Also, there’s a weird time jump without a break. We’re in a bedroom and then suddenly we’re on a sidewalk. Not sure how much of this was formatting problems but it was a bit annoying.

What I Did Like:

• Solid characters. The crew comes across as family in the best way. They watch each other’s backs and their moments of happiness are well written. I also appreciated the way the boys all came to Johnny’s aid when he was dealing with his PTSD. 
• Vibes of Outsiders or West Side Story. Naturally, this is part of the issue we had with the age category and genre classification from the publisher, as those are comp titles that are not Adult Mystery stories. We do love both of those stories, however, so the call back to those vibes works. 
• Action packed. Gang violence, first love, and big dreams are all playing out on the pages but it’s the action scenes that keep the pace. They’re well written and easy to picture. 

Who Should Read This One:

• Fans of gritty coming-of-age stories with morally grey characters.

My Rating: 3 Stars

• If we rate this as we felt it fit, a gritty coming-of-age book for young adults, it fits nicely in that niche and rates as 3 stars.