Thank you so much to Mulholland Books for a copy of this book!

This book is out now.

"Murder is a monster that chews up whatever expectations you had regarding death and spits them in your face."

I have not read Gabino Iglesias before but I recognize the cover of his last book from seeing it on Book of the Month and within the book community, I did not have my eye on this book until I saw the cover and the green stood out to me but then in the mini description there was a mentioned of Stand by Me. If you know me, you know how important that movie is to me and just seeing that I knew I had to read it.

I am typically a romance reader but I venture out to other genres just to keep my reading fresh and give variety. So this was slightly out of my comfort zone. I had not expected it to be so violent which was on me. I felt that the first half of the book was much stronger than the second half of the book especially the last quarter of it. I am not one who enjoys when lore/supernatural is brought into stories and this one had it and that is where it lost me.

"Someone is always trying to eat you, you know? We're surrounded by sharks even when we're on land."

The friendship and loyalty in this book was so strong. Those boys would do anything for one another and boy if the series of events that happened in this book didn't test that then I don't know what would. I felt for Bimbo and his pain of losing his mother but I had to imagine in retrospect he would have done things a little differently after her death. Perhaps it's my non violent tendencies or because I did not grow up in the city where it is common to seek vengeance but I am not sure it was worth losing others in the quest to have found her killer.

I read a good chunk of this book with my eyes but then did it in tandem once the audio was out. Both narrators Jean-Marc Berne and Daya Mendez (who took on the female point of views) did a good job with their characters. Having the audio really helped push me through the reading.

I will say Iglesias has a way with words and had some zingers that really sticks with you. I was highlight phrases here and there.

This was not fully for me but perhaps it is for you!