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The Boy in the Box
Villains are not born. They're made.
Welcome to The Collective, a near-future dystopian society where long-lived Ethereals reign. Or do they?
This villain origin story explores dark themes and the duality of man. Set in the years leading up to Obedient, learn how Gabriel became a monster, and answer those burning questions about a particular set of brothers.
You are Good, Gabe.
Gabe is good, despite a malevolent voice constantly whispering in his head. When a strange boy appears and is subsequently injured, Gabe's decision to save him changes his life forever. A tale of friendship, impossible choices, and losing battles with one's inner demons, The Boy in the Box is an emotional journey that'll keep you guessing.
The Boy in the Box is a prequel best enjoyed after Book 1 in The Telophase Series.
Welcome to The Collective, a near-future dystopian society where long-lived Ethereals reign. Or do they?
This villain origin story explores dark themes and the duality of man. Set in the years leading up to Obedient, learn how Gabriel became a monster, and answer those burning questions about a particular set of brothers.
You are Good, Gabe.
Gabe is good, despite a malevolent voice constantly whispering in his head. When a strange boy appears and is subsequently injured, Gabe's decision to save him changes his life forever. A tale of friendship, impossible choices, and losing battles with one's inner demons, The Boy in the Box is an emotional journey that'll keep you guessing.
The Boy in the Box is a prequel best enjoyed after Book 1 in The Telophase Series.
359 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2025
2 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
W. Pearl
2 books52 followersWhitney is author of The Telophase Series.
She lives on a mini farm in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and four remarkable children. Her fire for expression through the written word has been an unquenchable constant all her life. When she is not busy writing or wrangling animals, she enjoys a variety of hobbies, including hiking, painting, photography, gardening, and playing with her kids.
She lives on a mini farm in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and four remarkable children. Her fire for expression through the written word has been an unquenchable constant all her life. When she is not busy writing or wrangling animals, she enjoys a variety of hobbies, including hiking, painting, photography, gardening, and playing with her kids.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 14, 2025
Huge thank you to W. Pearl for the opportunity to read the ARC of The Boy in the Box. After reading Obedient (which is an incredibly underhyped book), this prequel was a highly anticipated read for me. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to read it before it was released.
In Obedient, we get different POVs, including the POV of the villain. The Boy in the Box (referred to as TBITB from here on) is a prequel that serves as a villain origin story. I had a vague idea of how the story would end, given that I’d already read Obedient, but I did not anticipate just how emotionally devastating this book would be. This story is very dark, but the dark themes are executed incredibly well, building a deeply emotional, tragic, and traumatizing story.
Pros:
•This book was beautifully written, depicting a dark, dystopian world that continues to decline into an even more horrific society. Rich are separated from the poor, with the divide growing wider as time goes on. People are radicalized by the government. Woman are oppressed and forced into certain roles. It’s dark, but it’s relevant.
•I loved the found family in this book. The tale of unlikely friendships, forbidden love, impossible choices, and loyalty that survives the harshest conditions.
•This is a book that will stick with you long after you’ve finished reading it. My heart aches for the little boy who was ripped apart and put back together in more ways than one, becoming the very monster he feared and sought to fight against. I wanted so badly for him to overcome the horrors he experienced, while at the same time, hating the person I knew he would become.
Cons:
•I absolutely loved this book and rated it 5 starts, but there was one aspect that I wished had been built out a bit more. There are a couple instances later in the story that deal with death, but it feels like the story kind of jumps over that actual deaths and moves more into the aftermath. I wouldn’t say this is necessarily a con, I think it was likely written this way intentionally. But while we did see the grief in the aftermath, it felt like we missed the initial shock and emotion the characters would have experienced upon learning of the deaths, which I think would have added even more emotional depth and connection to the characters.
Favorite Quotes:
•“It doesn’t matter that I can’t breathe when I look at you. It doesn’t matter that I’d rather die a thousand deaths than go a moment without ya by my side. It doesn’t matter that I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. That I knew you were it for me, before I even knew myself. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that your laugh gives me life, that I’d sell all the stars in the heavens to see you smile… It doesn’t matter what I want. It doesn’t even matter what you want. We don’t get to choose. Not in this world.”
•“Alas, a life cannot be built on maybes. There is only the now, the truth of this moment in time, the leap into the unpredictability of each passing second that determines ones’ reality. Maybes are best left in the past, where they belong- the enemy to possibility.”
•“I’ll love you forever. When I’m nothing more than a whisper on the wind, I’ll still be calling your name.”
•“He shoved aside his tired internal debate about how much good he needed to outweigh the bad within him and focused instead on living. He lived for 3:07, for that hour in her company. And he lived for Thursday morning, when his best friends came for breakfast. And he lived for the mundane moments in between: sunlight casting rainbows on his polished floors, music written in the steady thump thump of his heart, dandelion seeds on the breeze.”
•“There is no darkness you could reveal that I’m not already well acquainted with. Do your worst. Wreck me. But I hope you’re friends with failure because I was ruined long before we met.”
•“He should have known only a monster could survive loving him.”
Does it matter which book you read first?
I haven’t fully decided what my personal thoughts on this are yet. I may need to reread Obedient to really remember what might be spoiled by reading TBITB first. The book description says “The Boy in the Box is a prequel best enjoyed after Book 1”, but the author has also mentioned that TBITB could really be read before or after Obedient.
My initial thoughts: I do think there are some plot points and revelations in both Obedient and TBITB that may be spoiled or may not have the same impact if TBITB is read first. You’ll also view the villain differently knowing his backstory before starting Obedient. And while I love Obedient, I thought TBITB was better. I prefer to read series with books that get progressively better, so I think I’d ultimately recommend reading the series as intended (Obedient followed by TBITB).
However, it may depend on the experience you are looking for. If you want to go into this deeply emotional story of TBITB with zero context and no idea how it will end, I’d say you can probably read TBITB first without ruining the story. But if you do go that route, I recommend that you don’t even read the description of the book. Go into it totally blind. This way, you’ll experience the devastation on a different level, not knowing who will become the villain, not knowing who will die, not knowing how the characters connect, etc. But be aware that as an intended prequel, this story is not going to have a happy ending and it will rip your heart out.
In Obedient, we get different POVs, including the POV of the villain. The Boy in the Box (referred to as TBITB from here on) is a prequel that serves as a villain origin story. I had a vague idea of how the story would end, given that I’d already read Obedient, but I did not anticipate just how emotionally devastating this book would be. This story is very dark, but the dark themes are executed incredibly well, building a deeply emotional, tragic, and traumatizing story.
Pros:
•This book was beautifully written, depicting a dark, dystopian world that continues to decline into an even more horrific society. Rich are separated from the poor, with the divide growing wider as time goes on. People are radicalized by the government. Woman are oppressed and forced into certain roles. It’s dark, but it’s relevant.
•I loved the found family in this book. The tale of unlikely friendships, forbidden love, impossible choices, and loyalty that survives the harshest conditions.
•This is a book that will stick with you long after you’ve finished reading it. My heart aches for the little boy who was ripped apart and put back together in more ways than one, becoming the very monster he feared and sought to fight against. I wanted so badly for him to overcome the horrors he experienced, while at the same time, hating the person I knew he would become.
Cons:
•I absolutely loved this book and rated it 5 starts, but there was one aspect that I wished had been built out a bit more. There are a couple instances later in the story that deal with death, but it feels like the story kind of jumps over that actual deaths and moves more into the aftermath. I wouldn’t say this is necessarily a con, I think it was likely written this way intentionally. But while we did see the grief in the aftermath, it felt like we missed the initial shock and emotion the characters would have experienced upon learning of the deaths, which I think would have added even more emotional depth and connection to the characters.
Favorite Quotes:
•“It doesn’t matter that I can’t breathe when I look at you. It doesn’t matter that I’d rather die a thousand deaths than go a moment without ya by my side. It doesn’t matter that I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. That I knew you were it for me, before I even knew myself. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that your laugh gives me life, that I’d sell all the stars in the heavens to see you smile… It doesn’t matter what I want. It doesn’t even matter what you want. We don’t get to choose. Not in this world.”
•“Alas, a life cannot be built on maybes. There is only the now, the truth of this moment in time, the leap into the unpredictability of each passing second that determines ones’ reality. Maybes are best left in the past, where they belong- the enemy to possibility.”
•“I’ll love you forever. When I’m nothing more than a whisper on the wind, I’ll still be calling your name.”
•“He shoved aside his tired internal debate about how much good he needed to outweigh the bad within him and focused instead on living. He lived for 3:07, for that hour in her company. And he lived for Thursday morning, when his best friends came for breakfast. And he lived for the mundane moments in between: sunlight casting rainbows on his polished floors, music written in the steady thump thump of his heart, dandelion seeds on the breeze.”
•“There is no darkness you could reveal that I’m not already well acquainted with. Do your worst. Wreck me. But I hope you’re friends with failure because I was ruined long before we met.”
•“He should have known only a monster could survive loving him.”
Does it matter which book you read first?
I haven’t fully decided what my personal thoughts on this are yet. I may need to reread Obedient to really remember what might be spoiled by reading TBITB first. The book description says “The Boy in the Box is a prequel best enjoyed after Book 1”, but the author has also mentioned that TBITB could really be read before or after Obedient.
My initial thoughts: I do think there are some plot points and revelations in both Obedient and TBITB that may be spoiled or may not have the same impact if TBITB is read first. You’ll also view the villain differently knowing his backstory before starting Obedient. And while I love Obedient, I thought TBITB was better. I prefer to read series with books that get progressively better, so I think I’d ultimately recommend reading the series as intended (Obedient followed by TBITB).
However, it may depend on the experience you are looking for. If you want to go into this deeply emotional story of TBITB with zero context and no idea how it will end, I’d say you can probably read TBITB first without ruining the story. But if you do go that route, I recommend that you don’t even read the description of the book. Go into it totally blind. This way, you’ll experience the devastation on a different level, not knowing who will become the villain, not knowing who will die, not knowing how the characters connect, etc. But be aware that as an intended prequel, this story is not going to have a happy ending and it will rip your heart out.
October 6, 2025
Okay full transparency, I line edited this book. (Proofreading and minor in-line tweaks, no major plot edits.)
I also loved this so very much. The author took me up on my offer of editing services after I read and liked Obedient. This one is better. And not because I edited it!! It was better before I got to it.
I loved this so much. I love books that can emotionally ruin me, and Pearl did an excellent job at it. Are you the kind of reader who likes to hate a book so much you wanna throw it but also somehow can't put it down? Do you like emotional damage? Do you want a book that makes you FEEL something? Do you love when an author can give an amazing reason for the villain's motivations? Then this book is for you.
It is highly suggested to read this book after Obedient. It can be read first, but if you want max emotional damage, read it second. I was very impressed with Pearl's ability to not only have this incredibly fleshed out world, but she was meticulous with keeping details straight (trust me, I was looking for inconsistencies. I didn't find any).
The events of this book happen before Obedient and you will see some characters mentioned that you recognize. You will also get a ton of insight on certain characters in Obedient that will make you question every emotion you had about them in that book after you read this one. Pearl has this incredible talent for inserting emotion and meaning into stories. With this book, she even does it when the reader for sure knows how these characters turn out. It can be difficult to achieve that for an experienced writer. This is Pearl's second novel. She did such a fantastic job at not only twisting my perception of certain characters but making me do a complete 180 on my opinion in a meaningful and compelling way. Not only that, but there is real-life commentary made to encourage the reader to think about the rhetorical meaning behind the events in the book.
As with Obedient, make sure you check your trigger warnings. This one is just as dark, if not darker.
Whether or not W. Pearl blesses me with the opportunity to further edit her books for her, she's an instabuy author for me now.
I also loved this so very much. The author took me up on my offer of editing services after I read and liked Obedient. This one is better. And not because I edited it!! It was better before I got to it.
I loved this so much. I love books that can emotionally ruin me, and Pearl did an excellent job at it. Are you the kind of reader who likes to hate a book so much you wanna throw it but also somehow can't put it down? Do you like emotional damage? Do you want a book that makes you FEEL something? Do you love when an author can give an amazing reason for the villain's motivations? Then this book is for you.
It is highly suggested to read this book after Obedient. It can be read first, but if you want max emotional damage, read it second. I was very impressed with Pearl's ability to not only have this incredibly fleshed out world, but she was meticulous with keeping details straight (trust me, I was looking for inconsistencies. I didn't find any).
The events of this book happen before Obedient and you will see some characters mentioned that you recognize. You will also get a ton of insight on certain characters in Obedient that will make you question every emotion you had about them in that book after you read this one. Pearl has this incredible talent for inserting emotion and meaning into stories. With this book, she even does it when the reader for sure knows how these characters turn out. It can be difficult to achieve that for an experienced writer. This is Pearl's second novel. She did such a fantastic job at not only twisting my perception of certain characters but making me do a complete 180 on my opinion in a meaningful and compelling way. Not only that, but there is real-life commentary made to encourage the reader to think about the rhetorical meaning behind the events in the book.
As with Obedient, make sure you check your trigger warnings. This one is just as dark, if not darker.
Whether or not W. Pearl blesses me with the opportunity to further edit her books for her, she's an instabuy author for me now.
October 13, 2025
This is an ARC review…I was highly anticipating this book after reading Pearl’s first novel “Obedient”. I’m going to be honest and say that I opened this book expecting something very different than what I got! From the first page, Pearl pulled me into an origin story that I didn’t want but absolutely NEEDED! This book gutted me in the best possible ways and checked all of the boxes regarding any and every emotion you want to feel from a novel. Laughter, anger, sadness, pride, and all of the “ah-ha” moments that I wanted as an outsider looking in.
Once again, W. Pearl’s world building and character development has surpassed expectations! You’re drawn into a world that is so realistic, relatable, and moving that you don’t want to put the book down, nor do you want it to end! Another no brainer 5 star read! Preorder The Boy in the Box now! Move this to the top of your TBR and strap in for an amazing ride!
Once again, W. Pearl’s world building and character development has surpassed expectations! You’re drawn into a world that is so realistic, relatable, and moving that you don’t want to put the book down, nor do you want it to end! Another no brainer 5 star read! Preorder The Boy in the Box now! Move this to the top of your TBR and strap in for an amazing ride!
October 1, 2025
This is a very engaging book It keeps you wanting to read all the way to the very end. You're never going to guess the direction it's going even when you think you have. It stirs up great emotions over lots and lots of parts I either wanted to throw the book across the room scream at somebody or gasp in surprise at something I only just figured out.. It answered questions at the first book left you with that you didn't even realize you had. I definite must read.
And I think that's the best I can do at a review without throwing out spoilers which this book definitely should have no one giving out spoilers...
And I think that's the best I can do at a review without throwing out spoilers which this book definitely should have no one giving out spoilers...
October 31, 2025
An incredible read on so many levels!!! This book is a villain origin story and prequel to Obedient. It follows the 3 main characters from very young children to adulthood. The story is heartbreaking 💔 on so many levels and has you holding your breath with every characters decisions for the hope of a better life. This book made me laugh, smile and cry all at the same time. You grow to love and hate characters as they navigate a world they have no choice in; based in a society determined to control all. This book has a steady pace and will keep you on the edge of your seat. A must for fans of dystopian stories!
October 2, 2025
Don't mind me over here picking up my shattered heart. 💔 This book will wreck you but in a good way. The details in every aspect of this book are remarkable. There are many scenes that I felt like I was the character because of what was popping out on the page. I yelled, cried and wanted to throw my kindle across the room at times but what a way to captivate your reader. Go pre order this book! It comes out on October 28, 2025.
October 6, 2025
This is the book I didn’t know I needed after reading the first book in the series, Obedient. Definitely did not expect such a deep and powerful back story that gripped and tugged at my heart. The story was a journey that had me on an emotional rollercoaster, from joy and sorrow, making me smile, rage, and ultimately, cry. Absolutely recommend this book and look forward to the rest of the series. Great work!!
October 16, 2025
Arc reader here this book didn’t disappoint! It was a gut wrenching sad and at some points that I had to set it down and walk away. I love me a good villain story so it didn’t take me long to pick the book back up. W. Pearl did a wonderful job at bring life and humanity to these characters. Sometimes having someone see the good in you just isn’t enough, and sometimes your hatred can turn you into a killer. Dare I say this book is even better than Obedient.
December 17, 2025
This book is amazing! The way W. Pearl can keep you on the edge of your seat in a prequel is mind blowing. While you don't have to read obedient first, you absolutely should to truly appreciate her writing ability.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cry some more, you'll continue crying until you dissociate entirely and then you'll never be the same.
6/5 stars
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cry some more, you'll continue crying until you dissociate entirely and then you'll never be the same.
6/5 stars
November 19, 2025
Incredible story! I knew it would be heart shattering going in and I still didn't fully anticipate what I would encounter. The the plot lines crashing into each other was brilliant. As each piece clicked into place, my jaw sat on the ground.
December 17, 2025
I would 100% recommend you add this to your TBR.
From the very beginning of this book, each line draws you in.
From the very beginning of this book, each line draws you in.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2025
OMG!!!!! This masterpiece has sent me into a tale spin, Bravo W. Pearl you have officially broken me with this book. I couldn't put it down. This amazing story follows Darius, Gabe, and Addy, from growing up to living seperate lives. The twists and turns in the book will have you gasping and crying. We follow this unlikely trio from childhood to adulthood all the while living in a society where humans are less and things arent always as they seem. The complexity of this charachters is astounding, with a sprinkle of unforgettable side charachters. This trio faces many challenges and life altering decisions made in the name of love. This book makes you ask yourself what would you do to save and protect the ones you love. This fast pace wonderful book will have you on the edge of your seat and burning the midnight oil.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews