This author has a penchant for writing about traumatized boys and how they claw their way back to the light. Not as heart-stoppingly impactful as Boy Toy, nor as addictive as his serial killer series, but this book is still a decent read in my growing shelf of gritty, realistic young adult stories. I wasn't crazy about the main character's self-reflective essay at the end....it felt flip and self-indulgent in an overly deliberate sort of way. At the same time, it seems just the thing that an absorbed, somewhat precocious, 14 year old kid might write. 
 Like some of this author's other books, I enjoyed the breadth of some of the side tangents, and how it lightly explored a white kid in an all white neighborhood learning to navigate diverse religions, race, and types of friendship with respect.