David Fitzpatrick (3)

This book is disturbing. It deals with many of life's evils - abuse, neglect, peer pressure, blackmail, enabling, death wishes, blackmail - to name just a few. The ultimate resilience of the main character, Jay, and the support of two friends capable of seeing through the true manipulative actions of school football hero Foster Gold, can be seen as redeeming factors for this novel that I wanted to walk away from numerous times. For some reason I was drawn into continuing. Not sure if I would show more recommend this book. Powerful yet raw. show less

This story feels kindred to The Catcher in the Rye with a great deal of male teen angst, while also leaning into the sexuality and chaos of high school in a modern way. The personalities in the book are strong, and no one is particularly likeable, but that makes the adolescence in the novel feel even more accurate. Despite not liking the characters, I'm still rooting for them to figure themselves out the whole time.

I received a copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of The Academy of Unholy Boys was intriguing and had a lot of potential, particularly in regards to the search for identity and belonging in adolescence, exploring sexuality and navigating peer pressure. Unfortunately I don't think the book lived up to its description and found the antagonist a bit far-fetched and entirely unrelateable.

The supporting characters were show more really interesting and I would have liked more of their story(ies) throughout the book. I did appreciate that it wasn't a happily ever after tied up in a neat conclusion as that is unrealistic. show less

YA, novel. Gently, Jay Souther, St Andrews, Foster Gold, Bear Santos, Basil Sous, Tuck Reis. Jay is drawn into the orbit of Foster and Bear. Foster has a bad plan for Thanksgiving of their senior year. It is up to his friends to see if he will survive the holiday. Well written, each teen gets their own space to tell their story.