When I read the tiny blurb that started off with "coming of age story" I rolled my eyes. I don't normally like this genre but when I read the "first look" it was gripping and made me curious about "the drug war" in the Filipines as well as the Filipino-American experience. The cover was a bit offputting to me. It looks juvenile and the Christ-like halo and fire in the hands is blasphemous. If I'd seen this on the shelf of a bookstore judging solely by the cover, I'd walk past it.