School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--A desperate boy risks everything to keep his brother out of foster care in this heart-pounding and heartbreaking story of survival and sacrifice. Seventeen-year-old Jack and his second-grade brother, Matty, only have each other. With their father incarcerated and their mother recently deceased, their only hope of sticking together is finding the money their father went to prison for stealing. Deeply impoverished and terrified of child protective services getting involved, Jack sets out to track down that cash, pursued at every turn by drug dealers and Bardem, his father's partner in crime. His only hope comes in the form of Ava, who decides to help them and gets wrapped up in their mission. But Ava's secret--that she's Bardem's daughter--guarantees there is no way things can end happily. Unremittingly bleak and gritty, this suspenseful story centers around the ravages of poverty and drug addiction that have left Jack and Matty with nothing. Breathtakingly beautiful writing and tender characters collide with a brutal plot filled with bloodshed and anguish. The body count piles up as Jack, Matty, and Ava try to hide in the quiet, frigid emptiness of rural Idaho, never more than half a step ahead of their hunters. The lengths Jack goes to keep his family together and the obstacles he faces will leave readers gutted. A gorgeous, intense, and shocking look at chaos, survival, fate, and betrayal. Characters' ethnicities aren't named and Jack and Matty are described as pale. VERDICT A first purchase and a must-read. Prepare to be haunted and chilled to the bone by this exceptional story.--Amanda MacGregor, Parkview Elem. Sch., Rosemount, MN
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the mountains of Idaho, quiet Jack Dahl, 17, and his little brother, Matty, live alone. With their mother dead and their situation precarious, Jack makes a tough decision: to avoid losing Matty to Child Services, he sets out to find the stolen drug money that landed his father in prison. The cash is well hidden, though, and he's not the only one looking for it: when a vicious, unnamed drug dealer and Jack's father's merciless former associate, Bardem, catch wind of Jack's hunt, they set their sights on him. Bardem's daughter, Ava, finds herself drawn to the brothers--but to save them, she must break away from her controlling and abusive father. Alternating between the third person and Ava's first-person reflections in a fully realized rural setting, Anderson's starkly atmospheric thriller illuminates ways in which cycles of poverty and incarceration can disenfranchise children. Supporting characters, however, especially the two primary villains, suffer from indiscrete renderings, and a character "disfigured" after an attempted scalping is unfortunately named "Red." Ages 14--up. Agent: Lindsay Davis Auld, Writers House. (Apr.)
