Wirewalker by Mary Lou Hall

Genre: Young Adult, Coming of Age

Pages: 304

Expected Publication date: September 6, 2016

Sometimes heroes can be found in the most unlikely places.

Fourteen-year-old Clarence Feather knows no world beyond desolate Mayfair Heights. Three years ago, his mother was killed before his eyes by a stray bullet. When his father becomes unable to keep the family afloat, Clarence is manipulated into running drugs. But he longs to be a good person, in spite of the seemingly impossible odds.

Wandering through his neighborhood, Clarence meets Mona, a huge albino Great Dane. The two develop a deep bond. When he is forced to attend a dog fight as a rite of passage, Clarence realizes that Mona isn’t safe, and neither is he. Can he find a way to protect Mona? Can he survive life in Mayfair Heights and still become the person his mother wanted him to be?

A novel about self-reliance, difficult choices, and imagination in the face of danger and isolation,Wirewalker is a masterfully written debut that blends gritty realism with moments of fantastical escape.one.

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Clarence Feather is a fourteen-year-old from a rough neighborhood, his mother died in a drive-by shooting and was struck by a stray bullet. He was left in the care of his father and since his father was unable to provide for the family Clarence begins running drugs to bring money home.

While he’s walking one day he sees a white Great Dane named Mona and they seem to form a bond right away. Mona is able to see Clarence for who he is and seems to be able to read his thoughts but when he’s dragged to a dog fight and made to watch he begins to fear for Mona and what will become of her.

This is a dark toned YA – coming of age story and I wish I enjoyed it more than I did. While the feel of the environment is very real, it’s just a little too much of a bore. The story never really goes anywhere but instead constantly seems to read water. Things happen in small increments and when I began to think that the story was taking off somewhere it never did.

It possesses a dark, somber mood and appropriately so, it’s about drugs, abuse and a boy who is “walking the wire” on being who he needs to be to survive in his neighborhood and who he wants to be.

I wish I could give it more, but the writing was just a little too off for me.