Empowering search to find the truth

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Wow. That was truly a POWERFUL novel.

I honestly did not know what path this story would take. It opens with Jason as an 8 year old in the Philippines at a family gathering. A dog gave birth to a liter of puppies, they all passed except for the one Jason's holding. Due to its mother not bonding with it, it refuses to nurse and dies in his arms. Jason is completely heartbroken: his titos and titas laugh at him and eventually they all turn their attention back to what they were doing. It's only his cousin Jun who comes over to console him: hugging him and saying how he too was sad about the puppy. To cheer him up they went back inside the house and they read comics.

We fast forward 10 years since Jason last vacationed to the Philippines. In his senior year, spring break near when his father breaks the news his cousin (who's more like a brother) is dead. When asked what happened, his father replies "It doesn't matter. He's gone. That's it"..along with the fact there will neither be a funeral/service for him ----> which is downright shitty!!!! I was beyond pissed as Jason was.

He refused to accept this statement and does some investigating online. During one of his sleepless nights he gets a message via Instagram from an unknown user claiming to have been Jun's friend. They send Jason a picture of Jun and stated he is innocent. From there we follow Jason as he enters the Philippines and discovers what actually happened to Jun. It won't be an easy task because his dad stated the 1 exception is he is not allowed to bring up Jun's name, as if he never existed.

I loved the fact Jason chose to spend his spring break discovering not only what happened to his cousin, but also learning about his Philippine culture vs staying home playing video games. I especially enjoyed the letters Jason kept of when he and Jun used to write to each other-you can tell how genuinely kind and sweet Jun was. In 1 of the last one letter he finishes it saying he's sorry for annoying Jason with another letter. The last letter Jason wrote to Jun made me just want to sob and I couldn't because I would look like the crazy woman at my job sobbing in the corner lol.

This was a truly captivating book that kept my interest and honestly, I did not want to put it down and skip on some hours of sleep just to find out what happened to Jun. I'm also mind-blown to have discovered this Philippine Drug War is actually happening!!! Duterte actually has urged the public to kill suspecting criminals and drug addicts. How is this not getting more coverage?!?!?!