Reviews
I guess this is supposed to be a modern take on Catcher in the Rye with a gay protagonist. This book has two big problems. The first is that the siblings are said to be 15 and 16 but they talk and act and have personal agency as if they were 25 and 26. This book is populated with the least believable teenagers I've read in a good long time. Second problem is that this dumpster fire is being sold as a YA. I'm not against teens reading this book; I just think they aren't going to see themselves in it. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2019/comm...
A very solid, reasonably short story that really seems to be tailored to me at the time of reading!
Rufus is a great protagonist and narrator, throwing in enough wit to make his character fun to follow through the twists and turns of this mystery thriller. I really loved Sebastian as a love interest to him, and their chemistry and past really resonated with me.
The overarching plot definitely gets better as the story progresses, suffering from a wonky start with lots of exposition, but making up for it with an exciting last two thirds of the story.
All in all, very good! It was the first book I read in forever, now that I'm getting (back?) into books, but it was a super enjoyable read :)
I loved this book so much! It took place over the span of a few hours so the pace was really fast moving which made it exciting and it never got dull. I really enjoyed the characters and the mystery in the center of it.
Hi, folks! Your friendly neighborhood Katie here with her first review on her new blog, Kate the Dreamer on Tumblr! https://kcthedreamer.tumblr.com/ I might make a post later about why I decided to make the leap from being a Goodreads-only reviewer to also having my own blog, but for now, let’s get into the book :) The basic premise of this young adult thriller is that Rufus finds his younger sister next to a body, and she wants him to help her prove her innocence. I basically picked this up on a whim on release day when I was skimming through Libby, and I’ve been in a bit of a thriller-y mood lately, so I figured why not try it out? Pros: The writing (for the most part). I thought the writing was quick, engaging, and fast-paced. My one issue was at a few times, Rufus would use a word that was so out of the realm of possibility of a teenager using in his inner monologue. It happened less and less as the book went on, but in the beginning it pulled me out the narrative a bit. The plot. I’m just getting into the thriller genre, so I don’t know how this stacks up to many others, but I liked it well enough. I felt like there were enough fake-outs and uncertainty about who the true culprit was, and I basically chugged through this entire book in one day, so you know I was hooked. Rufus and Sebastian. I like Rufus as a narrator, and I like Sebastian as a love interest. I went into this book basically blind, as I have heard that is the thing to do with thrillers, so The Gay was unexpected but of course not unwelcome. Cons: Literally every other character. Everyone else felt one-dimensional. Basically everyone Rufus knows besides Sebastian and his mom read like mustache-twirling cartoon villains. They were unrealistic in the worst, lazy writing, trope and cliche fulfilling kind of way. Everyone was a heartless maniac! I’m not saying that heartless maniacs can’t be interesting characters, but in this case their behavior was given no explanation other than that they hate Rufus, but that HATRED didn’t really have a good reason either! It was so frustrating to read. There were a couple of side characters that I wish had more time on the page, especially Rufus’s best friend because I got strong chaotic Leah Burke vibes from her, and she was in one scene. Like COME ON. Overall, this one is a 3.5. It was solid and definitely had some great moments, but the lack of character development is so far below the bar, I can’t rate it any higher. I do still recommend it for a fast-paced, easy to get through thriller, especially for people who are still testing the waters in the genre like me!
This was a super engaging mystery. i really did enjoy the duel time lines we got in this story. I was super engaged in the mystery and had had time predicting it. I thought it handled so many topics in a realistic fashion but the LGBTQ lead and how it was addressed was so well done. I just loved the main character and the whole story. This story was super engaging but also hard to put down. If you are looking for realistic mystery with a fun lead! Check it out!
