A review by dlberglund
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk

3.0

This book was funny, but with a mystery that was much too serious for the tone that was set by the first part of the book. It would have been enough if our main character, Will, had to navigate a new school with a different culture and expectations, a somewhat tense relationship with his father (who can't really speak his language), and hiding a stray dog. Too much goes down, though--not just the mystery of the student's violent death, but several different examples of varieties of relationship abuse that are not fully dealt with. I also had some qualms about a hearing writer with no ties to the Deaf community to be writing a Deaf character. I was mollified a little by a Gallaudet professor who interviewed him and gave him the stamp of approval, but it still seems like he used deafness as a tool in his story. Does he shed some light for hearing readers? Yes, but he was still a little outside of his lane on this one.