Not totally off the mark, a story intriguing enough to pull the reader along, but it hits far too many of the wrong notes. The prose is smooth and largely enjoyable reading. Narrator and protagonist Jacob is too self-aware for an 18-year-old but also full of too many insights that read a bit hokey, unfortunately. Joy seems a bit uncertain of Jacob's relationship with his father, as well; the latter goes from vaguely relatable to a cartoon sketch of a drug-dealing villain somehow. Things too often feel scripted--the ending especially so.