City of Clans

by Geoff Peck

Set on the eve of the 2009 G20 Summit protests, City of Clans follows Jeremy Starcevic, a community college student struggling with his identity and sexuality. By day, Jeremy works for a party goods distributor in the heart of the city and attends classes. By night, he drinks to excess and self-sabotages at the urging of friends. As the son of a professional baseball player, Jeremy grew up playing sports and molding himself into a certain type of guy—a type embodied in Jeremy’s best friend and roommate, the hypermasculine Scott Melloy. But when Scott commits an unthinkable act, Jeremy is forced to acknowledge that the friend he idolized is a sexual predator, and his carefully constructed sense of self crumbles.

Jeremy begins a journey of healing and self-reflection that carries him back to his family and his one true friend, Katrina Kovacs, a photography major who opens his eyes to societal issues he’s always ignored. A story of redemption, City of Clans captures the resiliency of the human spirit and explores hidden truths of masculinity, sexuality, and self.

288 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2025

Reviews

[David Keaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are those books where authors sort of do penance for being a piece of shit when they were younger, and I love these narratives for the most part, but I usually enjoy those backward looks at our feral selves a bit more when there's less flogging, and here you have the quintessential "unlikable" narrator getting punished left and right... but without the cathartic lefts and rights (one character in particular really deserves a beating that sadly never comes), but I think Peck pulls off his spiritual beatings here, mostly because I actually learned a few things! Like what "flashing the deuces" means, which is something these Steeltown punks do *a lot* (and here I thought it was a double middle finger, which might be why there are people in Pittsburgh who still want to kick my ass). And there's a rich background of working-class families on parade in this novel, as well as the city's history and just an overall meaty blue-collar existence and banter that always rings authentic here. And there's a real mastery at the sentence level too (the author might be a doctor, according to his bio, so there you go). So while Jeremy is making the requisite bad decisions, we do simultaneously get some world-weary observations from above it all, so it's less Superbad and more Ice Storm (see, I compare books to movies instead of books because I'm functionally illiterate and not a real doctor). Speaking of not being well-read, there's a neat refrain of "When I think of my father..." that seems to come from an important book I know nothing about, but it resonates well here, this legacy of emotionally stunted men and their offspring, which is a lotta resentment, confusion, and (ultimately) violence. Still, I'll admit that there's something about such "important" narratives mixed with lowbrow shenanigans that can give me pause, like when Pulitzer Prize winning authors strive to articulate the hopes and dreams of Insane Clown Posse concerts goers, but it's not so much the inevitable condescension (a trap Peck for the most part avoids!), but I do crave the unfiltered, monstrous thoughts and actions of dead-end youth without the thoughtful exploration. Flog me, not you, Doc.

[Nick Artrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I requested and received an eARC of City of Clans by Geoff Peck via NetGalley. Set in 2009 on the eve of the G20 Summit protests, the novel follows Jeremy Starcevic, a community college student grappling with his sexuality. Moving in with his best friend, Scott Melloy, is the start of a new chapter in Jeremy's life. During the day he works hard and attends class, but at night he succumbs to the pressure of partying too hard with his friends. When Scott commits a horrific act, Jeremy is forced to acknowledge that his best friend —who embodies the easy masculinity he has always strived for —is a sexual predator.

I couldn’t me more different from Jeremy if I tried, but man did I really connect with some aspects of his character. In the narrative, Jeremy reflects heavily on his past, male influences – and the way certain young men are unable to connect with the that heightened brand of masculinity, either feeling shut off from it or mimicking it in an act of inauthenticity. The edginess and insecurity that a barrier like this creates is well-reflected in Peck’s novel. Jeremy wasn't necessarily a likeable character for much of the story, but the author also allows the reader to understand what motivates his behavior, and this is what allowed me to establish such a sympathetic relationship with him as a protagonist.

City of Clans tackles a lot, but most central to the story are themes of identity, masculinity and grooming. The author does a great job of depicting the friendship between Jeremy and Scott, making sense of the psychology behind it all. This is a great new adult novel, it offers a very convincing exploration of Jeremy’s transition from adolescence to adulthood as he navigates newly established independence, defining himself, and considering the world and others outside of himself. Some of my favorite scenes were the ones between Jeremy and his mother, but I also really appreciated the scenes between Jeremy and his brother. This book was well-written, evenly paced, and handles heavy issues in a realistic way.

[luz · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.25 (lowered from 2.5) // update: made myself finish the entire thing.

while the last stretch portrayed jeremy more sympathetically, the exploration of themes were still very surface-level. i can, however, at least appreciate the attempt in trying to delve into difficult topics despite it ultimately ending up rather lackluster. jeremy's relationships with the rest of cast were mostly underdeveloped—you'd think that his complex friendship with scott would've been examined more but alas. there was just that sudden reveal, a whatever effort in trying to explore its impact on jeremy, and that was it. the novel needed several more chapters to actually end conclusively. honestly, i don't want to dog on this novel too much because i can see what it's trying to do. it just didn't fully work out. it's a bit disappointing because this kind of novel would usually be so up my alley.
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made it to 66%. try as i might, i just could not make myself care about anyone or anything about this novel. i understand that jeremy (and the other characters) isn't supposed to be likeable, but he had nothing going on for him. unfortunately, i didn't find him compelling enough to excuse how unsympathetic he is—and me not giving a single whit about him or the rest of them meant i didn't give a rat's ass about the plot either. that's not all though, i have several other reasons for not liking the story: 1) not a big fan of the exposition dumps. they didn't integrate well into the flow of the storytelling and just contributed to the jankiness of the already disjointed narration. 2) the writing style just wasn't for me. it all just read so,,, meh. artificial. shallow. it came to a point where i was just skimming the paragraphs because, again, i did NOT care!! i feel like the book is trying so hard to make a point—several, even—but it just kept missing the mark for me.

now, the story might get better if i read on, but this far in? i really doubt it. this really just wasn't for me. i'll update this review if i ever do finish this in the future.

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-arc in exchange for an honest review