Thirteen-year-old John Bridge’s immediate plans include hooking up with an eighth-grade girl and becoming one of the most popular kids at Radcliffe Junior High, but when he steals a pair of blue sunglasses from a homeless person, it drops him into the middle of a gang war overwhelming the once-great Rust Belt town of Akawe.
John doesn’t understand why the sunglasses are such a big deal, but everything, it seems, is on the table. Perhaps he accidentally offended the Chalks, a white supremacist gang trying to expand across the city. Maybe the feud involves his friend Selby, whose father died under mysterious circumstances. It could even have something to do with O-Sugar, a homegrown drug with the seeming ability to distort space. On the night before school began, a group of teenagers took O-Sugar and leapt to their deaths from an abandoned hospital.
John struggles to untangle these mysteries while adjusting to his new school, even as his parents confront looming unemployment and as his city fractures and burns.
Assessment:
Plot: The book features a well-constructed plot with a bit of mystery, drama, death, and teen romance. The author manages to keep all of the balls in the air and consider all of the problems that come with a city on the decline and trying to grow up there.
Prose/Style: The dialogue is natural to the setting and age of the characters. There is a good balance between description and action among the characters. The images created by the words will stick with the reader.
Originality: With maturing teens and a declining city, the author has created parallel opposites which will not disappoint. There is no doubt that this town exists which is part of the appeal. Making this a multivolume story works well leaving the reader wanting more.
Character Development: Strong and well-developed characters who come across as genuine. The trials of being thirteen are truly captured. These characters are growing up fast and not perfect by any means. The author has also made the city a character as it slowly degrades due to a failing auto industry.
Date Submitted: July 11, 2019
