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tsumommy's review against another edition
3.0
What saved me from giving this book two stars (I gave it three) were the Jack and Johnny characters. Everyone else was so stereotypical. Big black man, he must be an emissary of Jesus! Grieving blonde mom, she must be a fragile angel! Seriously, she's described as angelic several times, but she's really a neglectful, drug-abusing mom, NOT AN ANGEL.
Plot was fairly predictable, too.
Plot was fairly predictable, too.
ink_squid's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a page turner. Johnny is a deep character despite his age.
skynet666's review against another edition
3.0
I finally got myself back into this book after not reading for a few weeks. It was a good enough book, but not great. I didn't care about the story, but at least I didn't figure it out. I also didn't care much about the character. I wouldn't recommend it (would give it 2.5 stars if I were allowed).
meginsanity's review against another edition
2.0
Basically the plot of this book is: there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in this town, and let's see how much this 13-year-old kid and jaded detective can stir up before we come to some kind of satisfactory resolution. In this town, every kid is scrappy and hates his dad, the library still uses a card catalog, and every woman is messed up somehow. Oh, and this town has something like half a dozen "bad" parts of town, one guy owns 90% of all the property in the place, and people keep leaving their keys with the 13-year-old who has a penchant for grand theft auto.
Seriously. I just could not get into this book. There was nothing that made me feel for the characters, or even feel like I knew what they were going to do next. There were so many twists that I felt like the climax of the book happened a third of the way in and the rest of it was just resolution. Obviously the writer wanted to start with the lowest point of the book. You got an alcoholic preteen, a warped mama on drugs, an escaped convict, a murder, and a kidnapped twin sister. Everyone then spends the rest of the book scrambling their way out of the holes they've dug for themselves. Not very convincingly, for that matter.
There were some good parts, which is why it's not getting one star. I enjoyed the frantic pace of some of the takedowns the cops did in the process of investigating the ten billion different crimes that pop up in this book. And some of the twists were well-done; the author had me suspecting somebody innocent, and being blindsided by other characters' actions. A bit of the description is well-done, though most of the time it felt heavy-handed and obvious. Unfortunately the flaws well-overtook the positives in this one.
Seriously. I just could not get into this book. There was nothing that made me feel for the characters, or even feel like I knew what they were going to do next. There were so many twists that I felt like the climax of the book happened a third of the way in and the rest of it was just resolution. Obviously the writer wanted to start with the lowest point of the book. You got an alcoholic preteen, a warped mama on drugs, an escaped convict, a murder, and a kidnapped twin sister. Everyone then spends the rest of the book scrambling their way out of the holes they've dug for themselves. Not very convincingly, for that matter.
There were some good parts, which is why it's not getting one star. I enjoyed the frantic pace of some of the takedowns the cops did in the process of investigating the ten billion different crimes that pop up in this book. And some of the twists were well-done; the author had me suspecting somebody innocent, and being blindsided by other characters' actions. A bit of the description is well-done, though most of the time it felt heavy-handed and obvious. Unfortunately the flaws well-overtook the positives in this one.
booksnberners78's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Just wow. So many twists and turns. Gripping, riveting stuff. Don't expect this book to come to slow down. What a great "who done it" book. Being a twin myself, I would never ever stop looking or stop searching for answers. I really connected to Johnny Merrimon. Such a strong-willed kid. I was so angry at his mother, but her grief and despair were understandable.
shantti's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
kaleidoquin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5