Widely billed as The Wire crossed with road trip movie, I think that this book actually defies the simplicity of this description. In the character of gang member East, who was the absolute stand out for me, Beverly has created something really quite special. This is a bildungsroman for the modern age, with East in particular embracing the possibilities of life outside of the tough LA neighbourhood he inhabits, and the lawless life he leads. As the book progresses and his cohorts fall by the wayside on their cross country mission to murder a trial witness, I found the exploration and growth of East’s character spellbinding throughout. Unlike other reviewers, who bemoan the slower pace of the second half of the book, I thought this worked perfectly, and gave Beverly total reign to explore and describe not only the changes within East, but also aligning these developments in juxtaposition with the new landscape and way of life he undertakes- the urban versus the rural. The writing is flawless throughout with Beverly being as comfortable with the rat-a-tat rhythm of the young teenagers’ dialogue, and conveying the brutality of their world, to describing elements of the landscape they travel through with the lyricism of some of the best naturalistic American writers. An absolute gem and highly recommended.

Dodgers is my standout debut thriller of the year that will take your breath away, this is the literary world’s The Wire. Usually when I see the words literary crime thriller I tend to shudder, as the story is neither one nor the other but falls between the two. Dodgers has made me question my understanding of literary crime as it delivers on so many levels, it is as addictive as crack cocaine! Dodgers follows the story of East, a drug gangs house lookout at a crack den in The Boxes in Los Angeles, he is fifteen and knows what he is doing. But things go wrong when a police raid takes place and a young girl is shot, he thinks he will be held responsible by Fin the gang leader and dealt with. What he is told instead is that he is going across country as part of a hit squad on a judge who is hiding out in Wisconsin. Fin has assembled a four man team, which includes East and his thirteen year old half-brother, Ty, who speaks little but loves guns. There is Walter who may be larger than life but he is an intelligent teenager and Michael the eldest of them who is there as the sensible person to stop them killing each other. They are given a van that looks nothing special, but looks can be deceiving, and this is the beginning of a long road trip, especially as East has never been out of LA. The journey from LA to Wisconsin is not without incident, and also helps East to grow and see things he has never encountered before. Through East’s eyes we see a world as he sees it, malfunctioning, that needs to be closely observed, that seems inescapable to him, he feels he is stuck in his punishing world. I loved the way in which the decisions that each of the characters make throughout the book shows that they can be at odds with each other, but are loyal foot soldiers to the cause. They also discover that their impulses and split second decision making will either doom them or save them. East especially is on a voyage of discovery and what sort of young man he wants to become. The characters in this book are remarkable, flawed and believable, all out to become someone else. Dodgers is one of the most enjoyable crime thrillers I have read in a while, for a debut it is flawless and shows us what an exciting talent the literary world has in Bill Beverly. The prose Beverly uses is engaging and colourful, descriptive and expressive, all of which draws you further in to the story, with some wonderful imagery, being the back drop and colours of America. I believe I have read a literary crime thriller that will sit alongside many of the classics in years to come, and rightly hold its own.

A powerful novel. Don't want to say much about it so that others can discover it for themselves. I highly recommend it.

Widely billed as The Wire crossed with road trip movie, I think that this book actually defies the simplicity of this description. In the character of gang member East, who was the absolute stand out for me, Beverly has created something really quite special. This is a bildungsroman for the modern age, with East in particular embracing the possibilities of life outside of the tough LA neighbourhood he inhabits, and the lawless life he leads. As the book progresses and his cohorts fall by the wayside on their cross country mission to murder a trial witness, I found the exploration and growth of East’s character spellbinding throughout. Unlike other reviewers, who bemoan the slower pace of the second half of the book, I thought this worked perfectly, and gave Beverly total reign to explore and describe not only the changes within East, but also aligning these developments in juxtaposition with the new landscape and way of life he undertakes- the urban versus the rural. The writing is flawless throughout with Beverly being as comfortable with the rat-a-tat rhythm of the young teenagers’ dialogue, and conveying the brutality of their world, to describing elements of the landscape they travel through with the lyricism of some of the best naturalistic American writers. An absolute gem and highly recommended.

I was sent a copy of this book by Real Readers. Upon beginning this book, I walked into it with as much an open mind as possible because crime really isn’t an area in fiction I get on well with at all. And then it began…the character development in this book is really great. The more you get to know about the books protagonist “East” the more you become invested. As I made my way through this book, I realised this isn’t your typical crime thriller. Yes, this is a group of criminals, yes, they are on a journey to commit an organised crime but as I continued to make my way through it, I realised, this is less about the crime they are committing and more about the journey, about their relationships with one another and Easts journey into adulthood. And that’s what I really really enjoyed about this. Bill Beverly has done such an amazing job at making the reader care about East and what comes next. Most of the story, the crime they are going to commit is an afterthought and it leaves the reader wondering what comes next for these characters. Absolutely fantastic, well written and one of the best I have read this year.