When the principal of an urban prep school is murdered, three students are named as suspects. Can the boys work together to figure out who the real killer is… or is it actually one of them?
I had read a sample of PROMISE BOYS weeks ago and wasn’t sure if it was going to be the right YA book for me. I love a good mystery; however, the synopsis didn't catch my attention in the way that other books have. Even so, I decided to give it a chance when I saw it available at my library. I liked that there were multiple narrators as that can make a book very interesting when you get to see multiple characters' perspectives. The problem I found was that many of the narrators sounded too similar. Additionally, some of them were inconsistent within their voice. The concept of having numerous characters tell their stories combined with transcripts of police interviews and text messages of the main characters was cool but ultimately wasn’t enough to hold my attention sufficiently. I found myself feeling bored during parts and wanting to get to the end just to find out what happens. It took a significant portion of the book to finally get to the boys investigating the murder themselves. The ending felt too fast and seemed like it resolved things almost too nicely. A great part of this book though is the keenly observed social commentary sprinkled throughout. This wasn’t a favorite read of mine, though I think PROMISE BOYS will hit better with a young adult audience.
I had read a sample of PROMISE BOYS weeks ago and wasn’t sure if it was going to be the right YA book for me. I love a good mystery; however, the synopsis didn't catch my attention in the way that other books have. Even so, I decided to give it a chance when I saw it available at my library. I liked that there were multiple narrators as that can make a book very interesting when you get to see multiple characters' perspectives. The problem I found was that many of the narrators sounded too similar. Additionally, some of them were inconsistent within their voice. The concept of having numerous characters tell their stories combined with transcripts of police interviews and text messages of the main characters was cool but ultimately wasn’t enough to hold my attention sufficiently. I found myself feeling bored during parts and wanting to get to the end just to find out what happens. It took a significant portion of the book to finally get to the boys investigating the murder themselves. The ending felt too fast and seemed like it resolved things almost too nicely. A great part of this book though is the keenly observed social commentary sprinkled throughout. This wasn’t a favorite read of mine, though I think PROMISE BOYS will hit better with a young adult audience.