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A review by librovermo
Boys In the Valley by Philip Fracassi
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.25
The first half of the book really does a good job of building up dread before the second half hits. Fracassi shows us how terribly the boys are treated by Father Poole and his lackey, Brother Johnson, and how the orphanage is already an awful, depressing, oppressive place that we know is only about to get worse. And we can only imagine the ways in which that will happen, but we’ll probably be wrong!
The perspective shifts back and forth between Peter’s first-person POV and a third-person POV. Peter is a great, likeable character with a lot of depth. Throughout the book, he’s wrestling with an important choice he must make. His struggle with his upcoming decision is extremely relatable, and when he’s forced to make the choice, it’s heartbreaking. It’s easy to love (and hate!) many of the other characters in the book as well. My least favorite was Father Poole and I really loved David.
The Boys in the Valley interested me from the start, but it didn’t become a book I could not put down until the second half. Once there, I did not stop until I finished the book because I couldn’t walk away from what was going on. There was a ton of action, lots of chaos, and it was so intense! I didn’t expect the ending, but it was perfect.
The perspective shifts back and forth between Peter’s first-person POV and a third-person POV. Peter is a great, likeable character with a lot of depth. Throughout the book, he’s wrestling with an important choice he must make. His struggle with his upcoming decision is extremely relatable, and when he’s forced to make the choice, it’s heartbreaking. It’s easy to love (and hate!) many of the other characters in the book as well. My least favorite was Father Poole and I really loved David.
The Boys in the Valley interested me from the start, but it didn’t become a book I could not put down until the second half. Once there, I did not stop until I finished the book because I couldn’t walk away from what was going on. There was a ton of action, lots of chaos, and it was so intense! I didn’t expect the ending, but it was perfect.