Book Review: Game by Barry Lyga

Book Two

I've been a fan of Barry Lyga since I read his second book, Boy Toy. it is about the sexual abuse of a young boy by his teacher. It was so amazingly good. I learned he was writing a fairly big book on a serial killer. He appears to be a through researcher on the subject matter he he writes about, so I couldn't wait to see what he was going to do with this topic. I wasn't disappointed. The first book in the series, I Hunt Killers is excellent. Game is the sequel and once again, I was a satisfied customer. It picks up where I Hunt Killers left off and takes so many spins and turns. The first book had so many heart pumping moments. Game deepened the story. Check out the description...

Billy grinned. "Oh, New York," he whispered. "We're gonna have so much fun."

I Hunt Killers introduced the world to Jazz, the son of history's most infamous serial killer, Billy Dent.

In an effort to prove murder didn't run in the family, Jazz teamed with the police in the small town of Lobo's Nod to solve a deadly case. And now, when a determined New York City detective comes knocking on Jazz's door asking for help, he can't say no. The Hat-Dog Killer has the Big Apple--and its police force--running scared. So Jazz and his girlfriend, Connie, hop on a plane to the big city and get swept up in a killer's murderous game.

Both the stakes and the body count are higher in this suspenseful and unstoppable sequel from acclaimed author Barry Lyga.

Lyga makes each character so unique.  The main character, Jasper Dent aka Jazz is white and his girlfriend, Connie is black. I don't know if the author had/has a black girlfriend, but he captured the whole black girl feel perfectly, especially the angst many of them have about their hair. I may be confusing this issue with what happened in the first book since the story meshes together so seamlessly.

This is not just the story of the exploits of a serial killer, but how those exploits affect his son and their relationship; how this killer thinks he is and tries to be a good father in his own perverse way. A very creative premise.

On one of my visits to Lyga's site, I recall seeing a picture of how thick the manuscript for this story was before it was published. In book two, he leaves us at a critical juncture. I'm licking my chops to learn how it all ends in book three.

Game released April 16, 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Toodles ya'll!

In My Mailbox...

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi, The Story Siren and it's a great way to learn about new and interesting books. This week, I received some very interesting ones. My thanks to Little, Brown for their generosity!  I was most excited to get I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. I recall when he was writing the book and he posted pictures of his manuscript. The stack of pages was unbelievable for one story. I'm not sure if this is a series or not, but I fell in love with his writing after reading Boy Toy. That was a tale of sex abuse of a boy that is spot-on! I Hunt Killers is about a boy whose father is a serial killer and he's afraid he's picked up Dad's bad habit. I can't wait to get into it! Check out the book, both with and without the cover. Whew!

With Cover

Without Cover!

Belles by Jen Calonita is about a tale of backstabbing Southern belles, scandal and secrets. Sounds good! The author was a Senior Editor for Teen People, a journalist for Entertainment Weekly, and Glamour. She lives in NYC. Not sure if she's a Southerner! I love the cover of this one too! It's so pretty and once again, they did a nice trick with and without the paper cover.



With cover





Without Cover



172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad sounds downright creepy. At first I wasn't sure if it was a YA book, but it is. It's about three teens that win a lottery and receive a trip to the moon. They get a lot more than they bargained for when they discover something sinister waiting for them--and there's noone to save them. Oh. My. There's no cover tricks with this one. That one scary eye is enough!

I Hunt Killers released April 3, 2012

Belles releases April 10, 2010

172 Hours on the Moon releases April 13, 2012

Toodles!

Adolescent Boys, Sex...Just Some Thoughts....

I ran across this book, Something Happened by Greg Logsted in the library and decided to pick it up and read it. It's the second book I've read about sex abuse by a teacher. The first is Boy Toy by Barry Lyga (see 9/27/09 post). Something Happened is fairly tame compared to Boy Toy which was fairly graphic and didn't hold back on the description of the sexual activity. It was not a gratuitous description and made sense in the context of the story, but the author informed me that he received a lot of complaints about it.

As I read both stories, I found myself really pissed at the perpetrators of the crimes: two female teachers, both very attractive and relatively young. When the abusers of sex crimes are women, there seems to be less outrage by the public at large; the media often focuses on the attractiveness of the perpetrator. In one such case, pictures were aired that showed the teacher wearing skimpy attire and posing for some modeling shots she had done in the past.

There's a kind of "boys will be boys" attitude by many and an assumption that this is a boy's dream come true...Well.  Not.  So.  Fast. As a therapist working with children, on more than one occasion, I've had boys come to me to complain about the sexual aggressiveness of girls. The boys complained about girls touching them inappropriately and they didn't like it. They sought help in trying to get the girl to cut it out. What age am I referring to? The boys ranged in age from about 13 to 15.

In my experience, boys entering adolescence are curious and intrigued with sex, but they're often afraid of it as well! They may talk and brag about it, but the thought of actually doing something scares a lot of them. That's why premature sexual activity with an adult is so damaging to their psyche and leads to emotional problems.

Now, you may wonder how an adult woman gets herself into a situation like this? Once again, based on my experience as a counselor, working with adolescent boys and being a keen observer of human interaction, let me offer my humble opinion. This by no means applies to every situation, but is just one possible scenario...

Barry Lyga: Boy Toy author connects to a reader

I received the nicest e-mail from Barry Lyga thanking me for the review of his book and touching on some of the issues that occur when an author writes material that is difficult for some people to digest.

 If you've read my November 27th post, I touched on the subject of authors and their readership. An author can't be expected to respond to everyone, but when they take the time to do so when possible, it certainly is thoughtful and appreciated. This is one author who clearly reads his messages!

Thanks Barry. May you live long, prosper and write many more good books. Check him out folks.

Toodles!

Sex Abuse Alert and Book Review: Boy Toy

If you have read my introductory post as well as my All about Me profile, you'll recall I stated that in addition to discussing literary matters, I will be touching on my insights as an educator and therapist.  These concern life issues that are important and beneficial for all to understand.

Professionally, I have worked with youngsters in various capacities: the school system, the legal system and the mental health/social service systems. A couple of incidents, both recent and not so recent in addition to a novel I just completed reading, has served as the catalyst for the post today. Let me begin with the book review.

Boy Toy by Barry Lyga is a 409 page young adult novel that delineates the tale of Josh Mendel, a 12 year old boy who is manipulated into a sexual relationship with his teacher. The story goes back and forth from the present to the past and follows Josh as an 18 year old high school senior who still struggles with the aftermath of the affair, years later. The book depicts the sexual activity fairly graphically, but it is not gratuitously so. It is real and organic to the story and yes--it's disturbing to read as you consider that the boy is only 12 years old and suffering emotional damage from premature sexual activity.

There have been a number of highly publicized incidents involving minors and school staff. People may be prone to dismiss such occurrences because the perpetrator is a pretty female and they take a "boy's will be boy's" attitude. This book exemplifies the real damage that occurs to the child's psyche as a result of such abuse. I highly recommend reading it.