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The Fort
With the boys' new fort finally finished, everything that summer was going great. And then the killer showed up. During the summer of 1987, from their tree house fort in the woods, neighborhood boys Tim, Scott, and Luke spot a man holding a gun to missing sixteen-year-old Molly Peterson's back. The problem is, nobody believes their story, not even the police. As search efforts to find Molly dwindle, the boys know that she, and the man with the gun, are nearby -- and that they must now find and save Molly themselves. A growing sense of honor and urgency forces the boys to take action -- to find Molly, to protect themselves, and to stand guard for the last long days of summer.
237 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 2013
105 people are currently reading
1241 people want to read
About the author
Aric Davis
22 books174 followersAric Davis is married with one daughter and lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he has worked for the past fourteen years as a body piercer. A punk rock aficionado, Davis does anything he can to increase awareness of a good band. He likes weather cold enough to need a sweatshirt but not a coat, and friends who wear their hearts on their sleeves. In addition to reading and writing, he also enjoys roller coasters and hockey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 245 reviews
June 13, 2021
OH MY GOD I JUST REALIZED THIS WAS ON AN AMAZON IMPRINT.
I HAVE PLAYED INTO THEIR HANDS.
this is hovering between three and four stars for me. a lot of it depends on whether this is a YA book or not. i can't quite figure it out. cover looks like it could be, it has young characters, the author's profile says he writes "mystery & thrillers, young adult, horror."
and if this is a YA book, it gets four stars for sheer balls, because it is rare to come across a YA book with a line like:When I catch her and get her back to the house, I'm going to beat the shit out of her, and I'm going to fuck her every which way but loose, especially in a book put out by people who delete book reviews that use the word "breast" when the reviewer is talking about "chicken breasts" in a cookbook review. and the ending...let's just say it would be unusual to find that in a YA book, but not in an adult book.
if it is in fact a regular adult crime novel, i would give it three stars. but i know i will be too lazy to come back here and change it, so hooray for you - you get four stars.
a lot of the book explores lies. lies of omission, lies of convenience, self-protective lies, lies for financial gain, lies to avoid a fight. and it is interesting to see how things snowball, and how easily the snowballing could have been avoided. it is a neat little thought-exercise.
a couple of reader-quibbles: if you are going to go to all the trouble to discuss the significance of the bottle caps as a safety measure, a reader would expect that at some point, this would return as a plot point, in a scene where there would be a presence, but no bottle caps which would mean... you know. but it doesn't, so the whole ritual is just a repeated detail that never foments into the chekhov-instilled expectations.
it also would have been nice to have had a moment where a post-police-station luke had an internal monologue where it became clear that he remembered what molly had been wearing, just to make his skipped interview even more unfortunate.
if you haven't read the book, these quibbles make no sense, and i apologize.
guess you gotta go read this.
it's good - it's not the tightest crime thriller i have ever read, but it has a good sense of tension, and the action unfolds at a reasonable pace, and i do like young amateur sleuths.
also: excellent and very disgusting injury-description. so delightfully icky.
thumbs up for pus!
happy easter!
come to my blog!
I HAVE PLAYED INTO THEIR HANDS.
this is hovering between three and four stars for me. a lot of it depends on whether this is a YA book or not. i can't quite figure it out. cover looks like it could be, it has young characters, the author's profile says he writes "mystery & thrillers, young adult, horror."
and if this is a YA book, it gets four stars for sheer balls, because it is rare to come across a YA book with a line like:When I catch her and get her back to the house, I'm going to beat the shit out of her, and I'm going to fuck her every which way but loose, especially in a book put out by people who delete book reviews that use the word "breast" when the reviewer is talking about "chicken breasts" in a cookbook review. and the ending...let's just say it would be unusual to find that in a YA book, but not in an adult book.
if it is in fact a regular adult crime novel, i would give it three stars. but i know i will be too lazy to come back here and change it, so hooray for you - you get four stars.
a lot of the book explores lies. lies of omission, lies of convenience, self-protective lies, lies for financial gain, lies to avoid a fight. and it is interesting to see how things snowball, and how easily the snowballing could have been avoided. it is a neat little thought-exercise.
a couple of reader-quibbles: if you are going to go to all the trouble to discuss the significance of the bottle caps as a safety measure, a reader would expect that at some point, this would return as a plot point, in a scene where there would be a presence, but no bottle caps which would mean... you know. but it doesn't, so the whole ritual is just a repeated detail that never foments into the chekhov-instilled expectations.
it also would have been nice to have had a moment where a post-police-station luke had an internal monologue where it became clear that he remembered what molly had been wearing, just to make his skipped interview even more unfortunate.
if you haven't read the book, these quibbles make no sense, and i apologize.
guess you gotta go read this.
it's good - it's not the tightest crime thriller i have ever read, but it has a good sense of tension, and the action unfolds at a reasonable pace, and i do like young amateur sleuths.
also: excellent and very disgusting injury-description. so delightfully icky.
thumbs up for pus!
happy easter!
come to my blog! 
August 4, 2013
"Tammy Benchley, Tim's mother and Stan's wife, had decided, in what Stan decided mid-project was a fit of madness that her husband could install a patio without professional help."
It's sentences like this one that ruin Aric Davis' The Fort, and frankly, with that one coming on the first few pages, I think I should have followed my intuition and stopped reading it right then and there. I know that most writers try to keep their books to certain word limits, but there is no sentence limit and so if two different characters need to decide things, they can safely do it in their own sentences. Sadly, this was just the first example of what was an epidemic throughout the book. It seemed like there was at least one sentence on every page that had elbows. They stuck out and ruined every bit of momentum the story tried to gain.
Buried under an avalanche of these awkward sentences is a story that had promise, but even the story itself, eventually succumbed to the same kind of awkward problems. First there was the cliche cop who realized he was a cliche and felt the need to remark on his being a cliche to himself--as if somehow that makes him less of a cliche? Then there's a bunch of inconsistencies pop up, like a group of kids who seem to be good kids and get along with their parents whose parents immediately and completely turn on them without much reason. There's blatantly sloppy police work. And just because the cliche of the drinking, loner cop wasn't enough, he gets a meddlesome, ignorant captain who hinders the investigation. The police work in this book was so slipshod poor that, considering how the book ended, the lead investigator should have been fired and the captain as well.
Speaking of the ending, it was terrible. There was a completely lame 20-years later chapter that absolutely ruined any semblance of this book having been, at least, a bit more than what it was. It was almost as if the author had wanted to pull you aside and say, "The moral of the story is..." And in the chapter before that one, there was a scene where two of the protagonists confront the cliche detective in a way that no 12 year old boys, in the history of 12 year old boys ever would.
I kept reading this book because the plot had promise and I wanted to see where it went, but in the end, I felt sorely disappointed. Early promise gave way to a paint-by-numbers feel of someone writing a book by consulting a copt of Writing for Dummies. Coupled with the awkward writing and the questionable dialogue this book is certainly not worth reading. I would not recommend it.
It's sentences like this one that ruin Aric Davis' The Fort, and frankly, with that one coming on the first few pages, I think I should have followed my intuition and stopped reading it right then and there. I know that most writers try to keep their books to certain word limits, but there is no sentence limit and so if two different characters need to decide things, they can safely do it in their own sentences. Sadly, this was just the first example of what was an epidemic throughout the book. It seemed like there was at least one sentence on every page that had elbows. They stuck out and ruined every bit of momentum the story tried to gain.
Buried under an avalanche of these awkward sentences is a story that had promise, but even the story itself, eventually succumbed to the same kind of awkward problems. First there was the cliche cop who realized he was a cliche and felt the need to remark on his being a cliche to himself--as if somehow that makes him less of a cliche? Then there's a bunch of inconsistencies pop up, like a group of kids who seem to be good kids and get along with their parents whose parents immediately and completely turn on them without much reason. There's blatantly sloppy police work. And just because the cliche of the drinking, loner cop wasn't enough, he gets a meddlesome, ignorant captain who hinders the investigation. The police work in this book was so slipshod poor that, considering how the book ended, the lead investigator should have been fired and the captain as well.
Speaking of the ending, it was terrible. There was a completely lame 20-years later chapter that absolutely ruined any semblance of this book having been, at least, a bit more than what it was. It was almost as if the author had wanted to pull you aside and say, "The moral of the story is..." And in the chapter before that one, there was a scene where two of the protagonists confront the cliche detective in a way that no 12 year old boys, in the history of 12 year old boys ever would.
I kept reading this book because the plot had promise and I wanted to see where it went, but in the end, I felt sorely disappointed. Early promise gave way to a paint-by-numbers feel of someone writing a book by consulting a copt of Writing for Dummies. Coupled with the awkward writing and the questionable dialogue this book is certainly not worth reading. I would not recommend it.
June 14, 2013
The Fort by Aric Davis is the kind of story that will stick with me forever. It automatically brought me back to the summer when life changed forever for me and the real world was more clear than ever and it wasn't pretty. Ironically I was the same age as Tim and his friends, 12, when this revelation came. Tim, Luke, and Scott build a fort in anticipation for the summer of 1987. They play, joke, hang, and just have a good ol' time until they spot a recently missing teenage girl with a serial killer being forced by gun point to go with him. After making some really mature decisions, they tell the police what they've seen only to be regarded as liars. This entices them to do some detective work on their own.
The Fort's only fault is that it's short. I will get that gripe out of the way now. I could have lived in this town with Tim, Scott, and Luke for as long as Aric Davis would allow. There aren't a lot of characters in this novel, but each move in meaningful and believeable ways. Each character is well developed. There aren't any unnecessary words or meandering in this novel. The suspense feels real and the shocking secrets in this town are crazy.
Tim, Luke, and Scott embark on a coming of age journey and finally see that the world is a lot worse than they ever could have imagined. The idea that a deranged killer is living in your backyard, up the street, or someone you know is a little too much. The three bravely try to rid the town of this maniac in hopes of validation and learn lessons in honesty, friendship, growing up, and life.
The Fort is a gripping novel that is not for the faint of heart. There are some disturbing scenes and I loved this book for them. The end is explosive and I never once saw it coming so reader beware. I recommend this novel to lovers of suspenseful coming of age stories. I thank Aric Davis for sharing this novel with the world.
The Fort's only fault is that it's short. I will get that gripe out of the way now. I could have lived in this town with Tim, Scott, and Luke for as long as Aric Davis would allow. There aren't a lot of characters in this novel, but each move in meaningful and believeable ways. Each character is well developed. There aren't any unnecessary words or meandering in this novel. The suspense feels real and the shocking secrets in this town are crazy.
Tim, Luke, and Scott embark on a coming of age journey and finally see that the world is a lot worse than they ever could have imagined. The idea that a deranged killer is living in your backyard, up the street, or someone you know is a little too much. The three bravely try to rid the town of this maniac in hopes of validation and learn lessons in honesty, friendship, growing up, and life.
The Fort is a gripping novel that is not for the faint of heart. There are some disturbing scenes and I loved this book for them. The end is explosive and I never once saw it coming so reader beware. I recommend this novel to lovers of suspenseful coming of age stories. I thank Aric Davis for sharing this novel with the world.
October 26, 2023
An exciting scenario with three 12 year olds accidentally discovering a serial murderer with his latest victim. Character development of the boys and their families, the killer, the kidnap victim and the policeman involved is all there and well done.
The image of the "fort" and the excitement of the woods will always appeal to boys and girls of all ages especially to those of us who grew up in rural areas and now live in crowded cities!
The conclusion, although a wee bit predictable, was more than satisfactory for this type of yarn. Detective Van Endel and maybe even Dr. Martinez could be worth following in future Aric Davis adventures.
The image of the "fort" and the excitement of the woods will always appeal to boys and girls of all ages especially to those of us who grew up in rural areas and now live in crowded cities!
The conclusion, although a wee bit predictable, was more than satisfactory for this type of yarn. Detective Van Endel and maybe even Dr. Martinez could be worth following in future Aric Davis adventures.
March 9, 2014
It had potential once you got past the poor grammar - shame on the editor for not catching that - and the generally clumsy and painfully awkward sentence construction. Where's my red pen when I need it?
The Fort could have been a great coming of age story but more than anything I feel embarrassed that I recommended this as a book club read. I suppose anyone can make a plot sound entertaining with a few well-worded sentences.
The ending was entirely disappointing as well - unimaginative and far too easily resolved. Furthermore, anyone who has ever been around children knows that no middle schooler, even one who might be considered an "old soul," would have the emotional maturity and insight to comment as these two did at the funeral. A sad reminder that not all books that get published are worth the read.
The Fort could have been a great coming of age story but more than anything I feel embarrassed that I recommended this as a book club read. I suppose anyone can make a plot sound entertaining with a few well-worded sentences.
The ending was entirely disappointing as well - unimaginative and far too easily resolved. Furthermore, anyone who has ever been around children knows that no middle schooler, even one who might be considered an "old soul," would have the emotional maturity and insight to comment as these two did at the funeral. A sad reminder that not all books that get published are worth the read.
May 30, 2013
Interview with Aric Davis, Author of THE FORT
Jaime Boler: Thank you, Aric, for letting me ask you these questions. The Fort is an electrifying coming-of-age thriller that grabbed me from the first page. You are a professional body piercer and novelist. How did you get into writing?
Aric Davis: Thanks for having me! I got into writing because of my lifelong love of reading. Being published was a dream, and it was wonderful to be able to see it through to fruition. I had a small kernel of hope that I might one day leave my day job behind to be able to write full time, and last year I was finally able to put the piercing needle down for good.
JB: How would you describe The Fort in ten words or less?
AD: A coming of age novel with realistic characters.
JB: What was different about writing The Fort, your third novel, than writing your first book, A Good and Useful Hurt?
AD: The Fort and Hurt share a few similar themes. They both allow entry into the mind of a delusional and dangerous killer, both have some very bittersweet moments, and both have a couple moments of stomach-churning violence. What makes The Fort different are the character perspectives of the children involved in the story. Their voices were a riot to bring to life, and it was a fun reminder of just how entertaining being young was.
JB: What inspired you to write The Fort?
AD: Much like Tim’s dad in the book, several years ago I installed a patio, and just like Tim, my daughter was lucky enough to get a fort from the leftover lumber. Staring at that day in and day out inspired the idea, and while I initially borrowed the idea to Will Daniels, the lead in Rough Men, I had to take it back.
JB: Whose character’s voice did you hear first?
AD: Tim, Luke, and Scott were the first characters brought to life in the first draft of The Fort, and they were the ones that led the charge. That said, Dick Van Endel, the cop in The Fort, is a character who has found his way into several books that I have written, most recently in Hurt, Rough Men, and in the Kindle Serial, Breaking Point. Van Endel has been featured in a few unpublished works as well, and hopefully I’ll be able to have more of my stories with him as a costar in the future.
JB: What prompted you to set the story in 1987?
AD: Some of my favorite books are the coming of age novels written by Joe R. Lansdale and Stephen King, both of whom have placed novels in the 1950’s. In that same way, I wanted the era that I grew up in to shine in The Fort. In pains me to say that the 1980’s are the same distance from today that the 1950’s were then, but somehow it happened.
JB: Are any of your characters based on real people?
AD: My neighbors have three sons that are finally on their way out of teenager-dom, and listening to them cussing at one another and bludgeoning their way through life was a wonderful reminder when writing younger male characters.
JB: Do you have a favorite character in your story? If so, please share.
AD: I really enjoy Tracy, the wise-cracking and foul-mouthed medical examiner. He’s a riot to write, even if he’s only used sparingly.
JB: How were earlier versions of the story different from the final copy?
AD: They were actually very similar. The Fort went through the same number of edits as anything else that I’ve had published, but they were far and away the easiest edits that I’ve ever had to work with. That said, even the more daunting edits typically go pretty easily. My editors Terry and David are never short of good ideas, and I am typically not so stupid as to resist their thoughts.
JB: What was the most difficult thing about writing The Fort?
AD: The hardest part of the book came about three quarters of the way through. My good friend and first reader Greg had a suggestion at that juncture, and all of a sudden the end of the book became clear. I may or may not still owe him a beer for that.
JB: Critics have compared The Fort to Stephen King’s Stand By Meand Dennis Lehane’s Gone Baby Gone. How do such comparisons make you feel?
AD: As those are two of my all-time favorite authors, I couldn’t be much more complimented. It’s a hell of a thing to have my name mentioned in the same breath as writers like that, and it’s incredible to me to think that I could achieve anywhere near to what they have with writing.
JB: What do you hope readers take with them after reading The Fort?
AD: Ideally a sense of longing for the story, in that way that any loved book grabs at the reader. As I certainly can’t hope for that from everyone, I’ll be a little more down to earth and say that I hope that readers don’t feel that they wasted their money and time by buying and reading my story.
JB: What’s next for you? Are you working on anything new?
AD: What comes next remains a mystery, but I am always working on something new. I’m a prolific weirdo, and right now I’m working on my fifth manuscript since completing work on The Fort last summer. Hopefully one of these goes through to publication; I’ve certainly had fun writing them.
JB: Thank you, Aric, for a wonderful interview. Good luck with the book!
Aric Davis’ novel The Fort is available now on Amazon.com. At turns heartbreaking and breathtakingly thrilling, The Fort perfectly renders a coming-of-age story in the 1980s, in those final days of childhood independence, discovery, and paradise lost.
Jaime Boler: Thank you, Aric, for letting me ask you these questions. The Fort is an electrifying coming-of-age thriller that grabbed me from the first page. You are a professional body piercer and novelist. How did you get into writing?
Aric Davis: Thanks for having me! I got into writing because of my lifelong love of reading. Being published was a dream, and it was wonderful to be able to see it through to fruition. I had a small kernel of hope that I might one day leave my day job behind to be able to write full time, and last year I was finally able to put the piercing needle down for good.
JB: How would you describe The Fort in ten words or less?
AD: A coming of age novel with realistic characters.
JB: What was different about writing The Fort, your third novel, than writing your first book, A Good and Useful Hurt?
AD: The Fort and Hurt share a few similar themes. They both allow entry into the mind of a delusional and dangerous killer, both have some very bittersweet moments, and both have a couple moments of stomach-churning violence. What makes The Fort different are the character perspectives of the children involved in the story. Their voices were a riot to bring to life, and it was a fun reminder of just how entertaining being young was.
JB: What inspired you to write The Fort?
AD: Much like Tim’s dad in the book, several years ago I installed a patio, and just like Tim, my daughter was lucky enough to get a fort from the leftover lumber. Staring at that day in and day out inspired the idea, and while I initially borrowed the idea to Will Daniels, the lead in Rough Men, I had to take it back.
JB: Whose character’s voice did you hear first?
AD: Tim, Luke, and Scott were the first characters brought to life in the first draft of The Fort, and they were the ones that led the charge. That said, Dick Van Endel, the cop in The Fort, is a character who has found his way into several books that I have written, most recently in Hurt, Rough Men, and in the Kindle Serial, Breaking Point. Van Endel has been featured in a few unpublished works as well, and hopefully I’ll be able to have more of my stories with him as a costar in the future.
JB: What prompted you to set the story in 1987?
AD: Some of my favorite books are the coming of age novels written by Joe R. Lansdale and Stephen King, both of whom have placed novels in the 1950’s. In that same way, I wanted the era that I grew up in to shine in The Fort. In pains me to say that the 1980’s are the same distance from today that the 1950’s were then, but somehow it happened.
JB: Are any of your characters based on real people?
AD: My neighbors have three sons that are finally on their way out of teenager-dom, and listening to them cussing at one another and bludgeoning their way through life was a wonderful reminder when writing younger male characters.
JB: Do you have a favorite character in your story? If so, please share.
AD: I really enjoy Tracy, the wise-cracking and foul-mouthed medical examiner. He’s a riot to write, even if he’s only used sparingly.
JB: How were earlier versions of the story different from the final copy?
AD: They were actually very similar. The Fort went through the same number of edits as anything else that I’ve had published, but they were far and away the easiest edits that I’ve ever had to work with. That said, even the more daunting edits typically go pretty easily. My editors Terry and David are never short of good ideas, and I am typically not so stupid as to resist their thoughts.
JB: What was the most difficult thing about writing The Fort?
AD: The hardest part of the book came about three quarters of the way through. My good friend and first reader Greg had a suggestion at that juncture, and all of a sudden the end of the book became clear. I may or may not still owe him a beer for that.
JB: Critics have compared The Fort to Stephen King’s Stand By Meand Dennis Lehane’s Gone Baby Gone. How do such comparisons make you feel?
AD: As those are two of my all-time favorite authors, I couldn’t be much more complimented. It’s a hell of a thing to have my name mentioned in the same breath as writers like that, and it’s incredible to me to think that I could achieve anywhere near to what they have with writing.
JB: What do you hope readers take with them after reading The Fort?
AD: Ideally a sense of longing for the story, in that way that any loved book grabs at the reader. As I certainly can’t hope for that from everyone, I’ll be a little more down to earth and say that I hope that readers don’t feel that they wasted their money and time by buying and reading my story.
JB: What’s next for you? Are you working on anything new?
AD: What comes next remains a mystery, but I am always working on something new. I’m a prolific weirdo, and right now I’m working on my fifth manuscript since completing work on The Fort last summer. Hopefully one of these goes through to publication; I’ve certainly had fun writing them.
JB: Thank you, Aric, for a wonderful interview. Good luck with the book!
Aric Davis’ novel The Fort is available now on Amazon.com. At turns heartbreaking and breathtakingly thrilling, The Fort perfectly renders a coming-of-age story in the 1980s, in those final days of childhood independence, discovery, and paradise lost.
July 23, 2017
”Some People Are Built for War, and for the Ones Who Are, There Is Nothing More Satisfying than Being Good at It.”
An small American town in the late 80s and three 12-year-old boys who are well aware of the promise of an everlasting summer and of boundless freedom lying before them and who, in a nearby stretch of woodland have erected a tree-house, the eponymous fort. But there are also different homes – two of them more or less well-ordered, the third one undoubtedly dysfunctional –, there is the burden of the Vietnam War, which makes boys encounter sentences like the above, there is the common need of teenagers to seem cool in order to build up a reputation, and there is a serial killer haunting the little town. Voilá the stuff Aric Davis’ novel The Fort is made of.
As the killer, whom Davis identifies as a Vietnam veteran from the very beginning, up to now has “only” – to use the parlance of the average small town philistine from the novel – killed prostitutes, the police are not too committed to their investigations. This, however, changes when one night Molly, a suburbian girl, “one of us”, as the Chief of the Police says, falls into the killer’s hands. The three boys, Tim, Scott and Luke, have seen the killer pursue his victim, but an unscrupulously placed red herring costs the boys their credibility with the police, who henceforth ignore them, and – which is even worse – they are grounded by their parents for lying to them. This punishment threatens to put an abrupt end to their untroubled holidays, and so the boys decide to hunt down the killer themselves in order to help Molly, but also in order to restore their reputation with their parents and at school.
Aric Davis has a great knack of conjuring up the atmosphere of a long summer in a relatively short text and of creating lifelike characters who – most of the time – don’t seem clichéd. All three boys come over as quite different individuals although there are times when they seem to be a bit too mature and sensible for their age. That being said, though, this degree of maturity can be swallowed in Luke’s case, because he is from a dysfunctional family and has to take responsibility at a very early age, his mother being an alcoholic and his sisters sitting in front of the TV in their trailer all the time. The boys’ parents are as well presented in a way that makes them convincing – I especially liked Tim’s father; it is rather the detective, Dick Van Endel, who appears a bit stereotypical all the more so as Davis, probably in order to add some depth, has endowed him with the usual private failure biography which is so typical of the modern lonesome investigator. But hey! as there can hardly be any kind of detective that has not already been used at least once in the time-honoured history of the detective novel, and as Van Endel is not really the protagonist, I can live with his lack of originality.
Whereas the beginning of the novel is redolent of the genre of half-nostalgic, half-humorous stories of initiation – personally I felt reminded of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn’s conflict with Injun Joe –, the story becomes rather sombre at the end, which does not detract from its realism. There is additional suspense because some of the witnesses cannot tell the whole truth so that it takes some time for the reader to get a complete notion of what has actually happened. Nevertheless there are some constellations the author could have used more deftly in order to still increase suspense. What I personally liked a lot about Aric Davis’s way of presenting his story is that he refrains from pandering to some readers’ lust for gory and perverted detail – a temptation that many a minor author would have given in to, no doubt. Davis does consider that life can be cruel and that there are some perverts around but at the same time he is well above the use of cheap shock and gore effects.
All in all, this novel quickly captivated me because it has credible and likeable protagonists, a dense atmosphere and a very suspenseful plot. The Fort is probably no future classic literature, but still a lot better than many contemporary thrillers, and I would definitely like to read more of this.
An small American town in the late 80s and three 12-year-old boys who are well aware of the promise of an everlasting summer and of boundless freedom lying before them and who, in a nearby stretch of woodland have erected a tree-house, the eponymous fort. But there are also different homes – two of them more or less well-ordered, the third one undoubtedly dysfunctional –, there is the burden of the Vietnam War, which makes boys encounter sentences like the above, there is the common need of teenagers to seem cool in order to build up a reputation, and there is a serial killer haunting the little town. Voilá the stuff Aric Davis’ novel The Fort is made of.
As the killer, whom Davis identifies as a Vietnam veteran from the very beginning, up to now has “only” – to use the parlance of the average small town philistine from the novel – killed prostitutes, the police are not too committed to their investigations. This, however, changes when one night Molly, a suburbian girl, “one of us”, as the Chief of the Police says, falls into the killer’s hands. The three boys, Tim, Scott and Luke, have seen the killer pursue his victim, but an unscrupulously placed red herring costs the boys their credibility with the police, who henceforth ignore them, and – which is even worse – they are grounded by their parents for lying to them. This punishment threatens to put an abrupt end to their untroubled holidays, and so the boys decide to hunt down the killer themselves in order to help Molly, but also in order to restore their reputation with their parents and at school.
Aric Davis has a great knack of conjuring up the atmosphere of a long summer in a relatively short text and of creating lifelike characters who – most of the time – don’t seem clichéd. All three boys come over as quite different individuals although there are times when they seem to be a bit too mature and sensible for their age. That being said, though, this degree of maturity can be swallowed in Luke’s case, because he is from a dysfunctional family and has to take responsibility at a very early age, his mother being an alcoholic and his sisters sitting in front of the TV in their trailer all the time. The boys’ parents are as well presented in a way that makes them convincing – I especially liked Tim’s father; it is rather the detective, Dick Van Endel, who appears a bit stereotypical all the more so as Davis, probably in order to add some depth, has endowed him with the usual private failure biography which is so typical of the modern lonesome investigator. But hey! as there can hardly be any kind of detective that has not already been used at least once in the time-honoured history of the detective novel, and as Van Endel is not really the protagonist, I can live with his lack of originality.
Whereas the beginning of the novel is redolent of the genre of half-nostalgic, half-humorous stories of initiation – personally I felt reminded of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn’s conflict with Injun Joe –, the story becomes rather sombre at the end, which does not detract from its realism. There is additional suspense because some of the witnesses cannot tell the whole truth so that it takes some time for the reader to get a complete notion of what has actually happened. Nevertheless there are some constellations the author could have used more deftly in order to still increase suspense. What I personally liked a lot about Aric Davis’s way of presenting his story is that he refrains from pandering to some readers’ lust for gory and perverted detail – a temptation that many a minor author would have given in to, no doubt. Davis does consider that life can be cruel and that there are some perverts around but at the same time he is well above the use of cheap shock and gore effects.
All in all, this novel quickly captivated me because it has credible and likeable protagonists, a dense atmosphere and a very suspenseful plot. The Fort is probably no future classic literature, but still a lot better than many contemporary thrillers, and I would definitely like to read more of this.
February 17, 2017
What to say about a book that, as a thriller, doesn't thrill? I admit thrillers are not my usual genre, but every once in a while I want something to pick me up and toss me around for a few hours without having to think too much and a thriller, a good one, often does the trick. Davis writes in crisp clean prose, without too many obvious clunkers, and the premise for the story is a good one. Perhaps the problem is that we know nearly from the beginning who has done what and to whom, and so the thrills should come in capturing the villain. Sadly, the work bogs down in a lot of repetitious dialogue which reveals nothing new. I could easily have skipped 150 pages or so and missed nothing. This is as much a problem of the editing than the writing, and perhaps because this is an Amazon-edited-and-published book, I should be blaming them. I have yet to read an Amazon-published book I thought was worth more than the $1.99 I tend to pay for them as ebooks. The ending, too, is utterly predictable. Sigh.
I wonder if Davis had taken longer to craft this work and hone his skills if it might not have been better? On the other hand, perhaps the genre itself doesn't delight me any longer -- I admit the last thriller that really had me gasping was the delightfully original BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman. If you like thrillers, you might give that one a peek.
I wonder if Davis had taken longer to craft this work and hone his skills if it might not have been better? On the other hand, perhaps the genre itself doesn't delight me any longer -- I admit the last thriller that really had me gasping was the delightfully original BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman. If you like thrillers, you might give that one a peek.
June 17, 2013
This story of three boys and their tree fort, is also about that quintessential summer of childhood, the one that we will always remember. But for these boys it will be one that changes them forever, one where they learn too quickly that true evil exists. And that evil lives too close to home.
The story moves quickly, letting the reader see several perspectives, including the killer. Much of the suspense comes from the unfolding of the killer's thoughts about why he kills and just how deep his psychosis runs. The detective on the case is not allowed to follow his instincts frustrating both the character and the readers with the typical politics of expediency over accuracy. But heart of the story is the boys, the ones who witness the first real break in a long unsolved case and try to do the right thing by reporting it to the police. When no one will believe them and even accuse them of making up facts for attention, they investigate on their own.
The best part of this story was the friendship between Tim, Scott, and Luke. Their families are all very different (a typical well-to-do family, one with divorced parents, and one with an alcoholic mother and no father) but they are still at an age where money and class don't matter yet. Their reactions to what they go through, the surprise, fear, hurt and anger, are well expressed. Very believable. My only problem with the story was at the end. Not with the resolution of the main plot. That was solidly done. But after all is finished. A large part of the story is from the point of view of the kids. But once one of them tells the detective who the killer is we never go back to them. The detective tells the rest of the story. Something major happens at the end and I REALLY wanted to hear from at least one of the kids, wanted to experience the emotions of the event from the kids' perspective. Otherwise, the story was just about perfect.
I still very much recommend this story and can't wait to read more of Davis' work.
The story moves quickly, letting the reader see several perspectives, including the killer. Much of the suspense comes from the unfolding of the killer's thoughts about why he kills and just how deep his psychosis runs. The detective on the case is not allowed to follow his instincts frustrating both the character and the readers with the typical politics of expediency over accuracy. But heart of the story is the boys, the ones who witness the first real break in a long unsolved case and try to do the right thing by reporting it to the police. When no one will believe them and even accuse them of making up facts for attention, they investigate on their own.
The best part of this story was the friendship between Tim, Scott, and Luke. Their families are all very different (a typical well-to-do family, one with divorced parents, and one with an alcoholic mother and no father) but they are still at an age where money and class don't matter yet. Their reactions to what they go through, the surprise, fear, hurt and anger, are well expressed. Very believable. My only problem with the story was at the end. Not with the resolution of the main plot. That was solidly done. But after all is finished. A large part of the story is from the point of view of the kids. But once one of them tells the detective who the killer is we never go back to them. The detective tells the rest of the story. Something major happens at the end and I REALLY wanted to hear from at least one of the kids, wanted to experience the emotions of the event from the kids' perspective. Otherwise, the story was just about perfect.
I still very much recommend this story and can't wait to read more of Davis' work.
August 9, 2013
A thriller like The Fort seemed like the perfect mid-summer suspense to add to my reading list, which is just what I did after being contacted by Jill to take a look at Davis' latest novel.
Honestly, after reading the first chapter, I froze. The writing sounded flat and mechanical, and I dreaded making my way through the rest of those pages. But by the fourth or fifth chapter though, Davis really finds his groove and the writing evens out. The first two chapters or so felt like a fluke; Davis is quite good at capturing this sort of everyday colloquial quality and family dynamic, and by that point in the story, things were flowing much more naturally.
The point of view shifts between each of the three boys - Tim, Scott, and Luke - as well as the viewpoint of the killer who's amok in the neighborhood, which does a nice job at highlighting the diverse range of feelings and situations everyone who's involved is in. Most of the "action" highlighted on the back cover takes up such a small portion of the book, and it actually worked well. More than trying to figure out how the missing pieces would come together, I found myself more drawn in by the boys and their families. I was pleasantly surprised at just how much characterization Davis managed to squeeze into three very distinct boys and their families in just a little over 200 pages.
Honestly, after reading the first chapter, I froze. The writing sounded flat and mechanical, and I dreaded making my way through the rest of those pages. But by the fourth or fifth chapter though, Davis really finds his groove and the writing evens out. The first two chapters or so felt like a fluke; Davis is quite good at capturing this sort of everyday colloquial quality and family dynamic, and by that point in the story, things were flowing much more naturally.
The point of view shifts between each of the three boys - Tim, Scott, and Luke - as well as the viewpoint of the killer who's amok in the neighborhood, which does a nice job at highlighting the diverse range of feelings and situations everyone who's involved is in. Most of the "action" highlighted on the back cover takes up such a small portion of the book, and it actually worked well. More than trying to figure out how the missing pieces would come together, I found myself more drawn in by the boys and their families. I was pleasantly surprised at just how much characterization Davis managed to squeeze into three very distinct boys and their families in just a little over 200 pages.
August 12, 2013
A book about three boys and the events that surround one summer, how they witness a kidnapped girl and her captor and how these circumstances spiral out of control.
A really engaging coming of age crime thriller. I really enjoyed the writing style, it was quite simplistic and straight to the point, which I found hooked me right from the start.
It was a short book, and although I found it intresting throughout I did feel that some parts felt slighly rushed, especially in the character development of the three boys, two of which I found particulaly interchangeable. But I found that the boys difficult journey into adolescence was described well, and there were some intresting perspectives from the parents and police that also added depth to the novel.
Some parts of the book did feel a little Nancy Drew to me, when the boys are trying to solve the mystery themselves and at times it did feel like a YA book rather than an adult crime novel.
Overall it was a great book to pass the time with, it's not the best book I've ever read but it did keep me constantly entertained, and I did enjoy it.
A really engaging coming of age crime thriller. I really enjoyed the writing style, it was quite simplistic and straight to the point, which I found hooked me right from the start.
It was a short book, and although I found it intresting throughout I did feel that some parts felt slighly rushed, especially in the character development of the three boys, two of which I found particulaly interchangeable. But I found that the boys difficult journey into adolescence was described well, and there were some intresting perspectives from the parents and police that also added depth to the novel.
Some parts of the book did feel a little Nancy Drew to me, when the boys are trying to solve the mystery themselves and at times it did feel like a YA book rather than an adult crime novel.
Overall it was a great book to pass the time with, it's not the best book I've ever read but it did keep me constantly entertained, and I did enjoy it.
May 28, 2016
A credible thriller that moves along at a good pace
I downloaded this book on my Kindle because it takes place in Grand Rapids, MI and I live nearby. I didn't have high expectations for the plot or the writing, but I thought I would enjoy reading references to places I'm familiar with. The book exceeded my expectations.
Yes, I enjoyed local references like "Meijer" (a local grocery store chain), Division Avenue (a street with a "bad" reputation), and a character with a surname ("Van Endel") very similar to a well-known philanthropic family in Grand Rapids.
But the story itself wasn't half bad. It starts out with three twelve year old boys, on summer vacation, enjoying playing "Vietnam" with their air rifles. Meanwhile, a predator (who happens to be a Vietnam veteran with PTSD) is getting ready to find his next victim. He enjoys picking up "working girls" who remind him of his sister Amy. This is the beginning of a credible thriller that moves along at a good pace.
I enjoyed the book enough that I plan on downloading another book by Aric Davis. Three and a half stars.
I downloaded this book on my Kindle because it takes place in Grand Rapids, MI and I live nearby. I didn't have high expectations for the plot or the writing, but I thought I would enjoy reading references to places I'm familiar with. The book exceeded my expectations.
Yes, I enjoyed local references like "Meijer" (a local grocery store chain), Division Avenue (a street with a "bad" reputation), and a character with a surname ("Van Endel") very similar to a well-known philanthropic family in Grand Rapids.
But the story itself wasn't half bad. It starts out with three twelve year old boys, on summer vacation, enjoying playing "Vietnam" with their air rifles. Meanwhile, a predator (who happens to be a Vietnam veteran with PTSD) is getting ready to find his next victim. He enjoys picking up "working girls" who remind him of his sister Amy. This is the beginning of a credible thriller that moves along at a good pace.
I enjoyed the book enough that I plan on downloading another book by Aric Davis. Three and a half stars.
June 22, 2013
Loved this book! The descriptions of the time frame this took place were so vivid it was like stepping back in time. I grew up in this era and can say he nailed it. I was engrossed from the beginning. I loved the characters and could picture them in my head. They were all believable and accurately displayed the appropriate level of maturity. The gruff detective was convincing. The parents and different social spheres showed how each child views their life and their effect on those around them. It had a great level of suspense and I found myself getting more and more agitated as the book went on. I had to know how the story line was resolved.
The author states it not YA material and I agree. The subject matter is harsh and frightening because it is so commonplace these days. Mr. Davis handled this subject very carefully and it was appreciated. I would definitely recommend this book. It was an ad on my kindle and I'm glad I checked it out. I am going to read this author again. Well done Mr Davis.
The author states it not YA material and I agree. The subject matter is harsh and frightening because it is so commonplace these days. Mr. Davis handled this subject very carefully and it was appreciated. I would definitely recommend this book. It was an ad on my kindle and I'm glad I checked it out. I am going to read this author again. Well done Mr Davis.
May 29, 2013
Excellent coming-of-age/police procedural novel
First of all, just because the three main protagonists in "The Fort" are 12 year old boys does not mean this is a Young Adult novel. It definitely isn't. Language and subject matter throughout the book are for adults only.
That written, this is a wonderful story about summer, youth, friendship, parents, pushing limits, and a serial killer. The story takes place in 1987 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The reader finds out right away that the killer is a demented Vietnam War veteran who has already killed 14 prostitutes. THIS story is about what happens when he takes a 16 year old girl from the suburbs
I laughed, I got mad, I remembered, I cried - this book has it all. Great characters, fast pacing, suspense, drama, heartbreak.
I loved this story for its own merit but it reminds me of "A Fine Dark Line" by Joe Lansdale and the novella "The Body" by Stephen King.
First of all, just because the three main protagonists in "The Fort" are 12 year old boys does not mean this is a Young Adult novel. It definitely isn't. Language and subject matter throughout the book are for adults only.
That written, this is a wonderful story about summer, youth, friendship, parents, pushing limits, and a serial killer. The story takes place in 1987 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The reader finds out right away that the killer is a demented Vietnam War veteran who has already killed 14 prostitutes. THIS story is about what happens when he takes a 16 year old girl from the suburbs
I laughed, I got mad, I remembered, I cried - this book has it all. Great characters, fast pacing, suspense, drama, heartbreak.
I loved this story for its own merit but it reminds me of "A Fine Dark Line" by Joe Lansdale and the novella "The Body" by Stephen King.
July 7, 2013
Found this book through a Kindle ad, borrowed it just because I knew I might need something else while at the beach. Hesitantly started it not really sure if it was up my alley, but never looked back. Easy reading style, quick chapters, and interesting characters fit with the beach venue.
Main characters are three 12 year old boys who the author does justice, up until the final couple of words they say at the end, which felt a little forced. Some of the parent's actions (or inaction) seemed a little suspect in order to drive the plot forward, but no more than any TV show.
I found myself upset that I didn't have another day at the beach to finish this book, the tension is real and kept drifting into my mind as I drove home. I promptly finished it the next day. 5 stars with a tighter ending.
Main characters are three 12 year old boys who the author does justice, up until the final couple of words they say at the end, which felt a little forced. Some of the parent's actions (or inaction) seemed a little suspect in order to drive the plot forward, but no more than any TV show.
I found myself upset that I didn't have another day at the beach to finish this book, the tension is real and kept drifting into my mind as I drove home. I promptly finished it the next day. 5 stars with a tighter ending.
July 7, 2013
I really liked this book! The only thing that bothered me was that my 15 year old recommended it, giving it 5 stars. Once I started reading it, I found it was about a group of kids trying to find their friend's sister, who was possibly taken by a serial rapist/killer! All I could think of was that I'm a bad mom for downloading it for my son. (He did point out that it was no worse than watching NCIS on TV.) Other than that, I really enjoyed the book, and will probably read others by this author.
May 22, 2015
A story about three boys, their friendship, a fort they build in the woods and how they witness a girl who is missing being forced through the woods by a man. When they report it though, no-one will believe them. With the wrath of their parents and the police upon them they realise that their only option is to help the girl themselves. They set out to do exactly that.
A great read with unexpected plot twists.
A great read with unexpected plot twists.
July 24, 2013
This was a great mystery told through the eyes of 3 twelve-year old boys who are best friends in the summer of 1987. You also get the pov of both the detective on the case and the villain, which makes for very interesting storytelling. I read this quickly because I just needed to know how things played out, and was pleased with the ending. Good read, good ending...I'm happy! :)
July 7, 2013
Could not put this book down. Held me intrigued from start to finish! Am interested to know if his other books are as good. I read somewhere that he is a YA genre author. But this was not what I would consider YA fiction. Good novel.
September 6, 2013
Here is a summary of this book: kids are smart, adults are dumb. Boys are smarter than girls. I saw exactly how this book was going to play out virtually from page one. I kept reading with the hope I was wrong. I wasn't.
July 18, 2013
This book was a little dark and disgusting at times which I'm not a big fan of but I still really enjoyed this book. The chapters kept switching to different characters pov which was interesting.
September 4, 2013
Not my normal genre but came recommended by some friends and it was 'OMG Fantastic'!!! I look forward to reading more by this author.
5 stars doesn't do it justice!
5 stars doesn't do it justice!
August 20, 2018
I really didn't like this book. In technical terms, I found the sentence construction and grammar extremely clunky, which made it a chore to read. Unnecessary descriptions of a character's actions, such as getting up from a chair or drying their hands, were included, yet the author failed to describe basic scenery or weather in any detail, which resulted in a complete lack of immersion in the world.
Compounding this, none of the kids' dialogue rang true; in fact, most characters seemed to speak pretty much the same, regardless of whether they were adults or children. This is except for the two black characters, who spoke in a stereotypical ‘black’ manner and stood out all the more awkwardly due to the flat uniformity around them.
Moving on to the story itself, books focusing on children often feature adult ignorance, but the adults here were boneheaded beyond the point of belief. At least two of the boys seemed to get on well with their parents, and yet it took almost nothing to convince their mothers that they were horrible little liars worthy of being slapped around the face. Detective Van Endel, in particular, was completely useless, especially considering the paltry amount of detective work the kids actually had to do to find the killer. In fact, very little happened in the book overall, and it only made up its still short length by switching between multiple viewpoints, even when none of them served to advance the plot.
Finally, something that stood out to me was the fact that there were no redeemable female characters in the novel, except for Dr Martinez, who did precisely nothing except for telling the useless Detective Van Endel how great he was. I'm absolutely fine with books that are about boys and men, and aim to tell a positive story of malehood, but building up your male characters shouldn't be achieved at the expense of tearing down your female ones; it's actually a very lazy approach.
I was expecting an engaging coming-of-age tale drenched in the sunny rays of nostalgia, or perhaps a look at the far-reaching effects a child or teenager's decision to lie can have, but unfortunately I didn't find any of that here; I was left only with the dull feeling you get when you’ve wasted a glorious summer day cooped up inside with what turns out to be a really bad book.
Compounding this, none of the kids' dialogue rang true; in fact, most characters seemed to speak pretty much the same, regardless of whether they were adults or children. This is except for the two black characters, who spoke in a stereotypical ‘black’ manner and stood out all the more awkwardly due to the flat uniformity around them.
Moving on to the story itself, books focusing on children often feature adult ignorance, but the adults here were boneheaded beyond the point of belief. At least two of the boys seemed to get on well with their parents, and yet it took almost nothing to convince their mothers that they were horrible little liars worthy of being slapped around the face. Detective Van Endel, in particular, was completely useless, especially considering the paltry amount of detective work the kids actually had to do to find the killer. In fact, very little happened in the book overall, and it only made up its still short length by switching between multiple viewpoints, even when none of them served to advance the plot.
Finally, something that stood out to me was the fact that there were no redeemable female characters in the novel, except for Dr Martinez, who did precisely nothing except for telling the useless Detective Van Endel how great he was. I'm absolutely fine with books that are about boys and men, and aim to tell a positive story of malehood, but building up your male characters shouldn't be achieved at the expense of tearing down your female ones; it's actually a very lazy approach.
I was expecting an engaging coming-of-age tale drenched in the sunny rays of nostalgia, or perhaps a look at the far-reaching effects a child or teenager's decision to lie can have, but unfortunately I didn't find any of that here; I was left only with the dull feeling you get when you’ve wasted a glorious summer day cooped up inside with what turns out to be a really bad book.
February 24, 2017
I overall enjoyed this book. I like Davis' story-telling, and I like his characters. I suppose my only complaint would be that as the tension was ratcheted-up, you wanted to see final resolution for and among characters, and all you really got was (SPOILER) a change in the professional judgement for the detective himself, that being to be more intuitive with his reading of suspects and interviewees, and his having the boys to thank. There was no visible resolution of the rift between Tim and his parents (his mother especially), between the Chief and Detective Van Endle (the major oversight was as much the Chief's as it was the Detective's), and for the welfare of Van Endle himself. It is implied that he at least fared well in his career, but many words are spent explaining that Van Endle was a broken man before the case even began. The same could be said about Tim's relationship with his parents, particularly his father. We don't get Van Endle putting his life back together at the end, and we don't get a proper reconciliation with Tim's parents. Is it selfish of me as a reader to want this? Perhaps. But I feel there were more chickens than just Van Endle's professional judgement that were called home to roost throughout the story, and ultimately, just the one showed up, giving me a feeling of "wait, that's it?" at the end of an otherwise very engaging story.
March 22, 2019
In the summer of 1987, three 7th grade boys make a tree fort in the woods by their houses. They happen to see a missing girl, with the man who kidnapped her, rushing thru the woods.
But the kidnapper has a plan that throws doubt on the boys story and they are not believed.
The boys then decide to try and find the girl on their own....
I'm a huge fan of the 1980s, and that was the hook for me. I graduated high school in 1987. It's a time I look back fondly on.
The writer does an ok job of setting the story in the time of the 80s.
Many of his characters are not likable though.
The kidnapper is very much a cliche, and that chliche gets worse as the story moves on.
I wanted to shake more than one of the characters in this book.
The story is choppy. There are 57 chapters and most are very short.
It is entertaining. Though I was unhappy with the ending.
And I thought the bottle cap idea was wasted, as was an adult character's connection with the kidnapper..nothing is made of either one, though the promise of something is there...
But the kidnapper has a plan that throws doubt on the boys story and they are not believed.
The boys then decide to try and find the girl on their own....
I'm a huge fan of the 1980s, and that was the hook for me. I graduated high school in 1987. It's a time I look back fondly on.
The writer does an ok job of setting the story in the time of the 80s.
Many of his characters are not likable though.
The kidnapper is very much a cliche, and that chliche gets worse as the story moves on.
I wanted to shake more than one of the characters in this book.
The story is choppy. There are 57 chapters and most are very short.
It is entertaining. Though I was unhappy with the ending.
And I thought the bottle cap idea was wasted, as was an adult character's connection with the kidnapper..nothing is made of either one, though the promise of something is there...
October 2, 2023
You know in Dennis the Menace (1993 film) when Dennis, Margaret and Joey walk through the woods with a rug, ropes, and a doll in a stroller to their tree fort and while they're busy arguing a robber comes along and a train of events follows? This book gave me all the same feelings of nostalgia, giggles, and trepidation. I love books that have a child's perspective because it reminds me how clever their minds are and how frustrating it was to tolerate authoritative adults, especially the ones who assume all kids are up to no good. In The Fort, 3 best friends witness something terrifying that they report to the local police, but how can they save a girl in trouble when no one believes them?
My takeaway is; thank goodness for the GOOD people in the world who make up for all the rotten eggs 🥺 I was so emotionally invested in these boys seeking justice and earning respect. This is such a great book to both fuel ones love for Thrillers and also gently nudge all the Grown-ups out there to not dismiss the Youth so quickly. I'm so happy I picked this one up!!
My takeaway is; thank goodness for the GOOD people in the world who make up for all the rotten eggs 🥺 I was so emotionally invested in these boys seeking justice and earning respect. This is such a great book to both fuel ones love for Thrillers and also gently nudge all the Grown-ups out there to not dismiss the Youth so quickly. I'm so happy I picked this one up!!
June 19, 2018
The Fort walked a fine line between adult and young adult fiction. It read like a YA, like it could have been the Hardy Boys if it weren't for the whole part about Matt Hooper raping and murdering prostitutes that resemble his sister - whom he also raped. Clearly not meant for a ten year old.
For me, reading about rape is a lot like watching a horror film - WHY WHY WHY? - but I did appreciate that most details were left unsaid in this book. There were no lengthy descriptions... mostly just the facts. That made it tolerable enough for me to read through and actually enjoy. It's a SUPER quick read that is entertaining enough for you to not want to put it down, but definitely not good enough to read again.
For me, reading about rape is a lot like watching a horror film - WHY WHY WHY? - but I did appreciate that most details were left unsaid in this book. There were no lengthy descriptions... mostly just the facts. That made it tolerable enough for me to read through and actually enjoy. It's a SUPER quick read that is entertaining enough for you to not want to put it down, but definitely not good enough to read again.
August 18, 2017
I read this book because one of my junior male students said that it was the ONLY book he had ever read that he actually liked. We agreed that if I read it, he would try one of my recommendations, so it was a no lose situation for me. Like other readers I was not particularly wowed by the literary aspect of the writing, but I was hooked by the mystery and the 3 charming boy characters. I could see why a boy who proclaimed himself a non-reader would like it. I can also see how kids would be able to relate to they way adults are sometimes a little quick to assume the worst in them. I will recommend it to students with a cautionary word or two regarding language and sexual descriptions that are a bit dicey.
October 15, 2017
Excellent
This is the second book I have read by this author and really enjoyed both. The story line is good the characters are really good but for me it's the writing style that I enjoy so much. I find the way he tells the storey so easy to read. I don't know why this should be the case we live in different countries with different cultures but he can tell a tale. This book like the first has a different view point, that is told by minors, and as a parent it makes me examine my own attitude to kids. They can be at times more grown up than the grown ups.
This is the second book I have read by this author and really enjoyed both. The story line is good the characters are really good but for me it's the writing style that I enjoy so much. I find the way he tells the storey so easy to read. I don't know why this should be the case we live in different countries with different cultures but he can tell a tale. This book like the first has a different view point, that is told by minors, and as a parent it makes me examine my own attitude to kids. They can be at times more grown up than the grown ups.
October 20, 2019
This book is a master class in structure, pacing, and tension. The audiobook was phenomenal, one of the very few that left me sitting around listening long after I was supposed to be doing something else.
Like others, I have asked myself: Is this YA or not? But maybe it doesn't matter. Perhaps we should not get too hung up on these labels which are ultimately no more than marketing segments, and instead focus on the story.
This story is great. Let the booksellers shelve the book where they will.
Like others, I have asked myself: Is this YA or not? But maybe it doesn't matter. Perhaps we should not get too hung up on these labels which are ultimately no more than marketing segments, and instead focus on the story.
This story is great. Let the booksellers shelve the book where they will.
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