THE FFBC BOOK TOURS - BOOK REVIEW : THE JUNE BOYS BY COURT STEVENS

TITLE : The June Boys

AUTHOR : Court Stevens

GENRE : Thriller / Mystery

FBRC RATING : 5 Stars

SYNOPSIS

The Gemini Thief could be anyone. Your father, your mother, your best friend’s crazy uncle. Some country music star’s deranged sister. Anyone.

The Gemini Thief is a serial kidnapper, who takes three boys and holds them captive from June 1st to June 30th of the following year. The June Boys endure thirteen months of being stolen, hidden, observed, and fed before they are released, unharmed, by their masked captor. The Thief is a pro, having eluded authorities for nearly a decade and taken at least twelve boys.

Now Thea Delacroix has reason to believe the Gemini Thief took a thirteenth victim: her cousin, Aulus McClaghen.

But the game changes when one of the kidnapped boys turns up dead. Together with her boyfriend Nick and her best friends, Thea is determined to find the Gemini Thief and the remaining boys before it’s too late. Only she’s beginning to wonder something sinister, something repulsive, something unbelievable, and yet, not impossible:

What if her father is the Gemini Thief?

FBRC REVIEW

DISCLAIMER : Thank you, The FFBC book tour and Netgalley for providing me with an Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am so happy to be part of this tour. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I really don’t know where to start with this book. It was difficult emotionally to get through it, but at the same time, I wanted to finish it so badly to see how the story will end. The book was well written, the story masterfully crafted providing a fantastic thriller.

The story is about a serial kidnapper who kidnaps 3 boys in the month of June and keeps them captive for 13 months. During this time the kidnapper feeds them, clothes them, observes them and caters to their needs. The kidnapper also releases them unharmed. The culprit goes undetected for almost a decade escaping the authorities quite skillfully. Things take a wrong turn with the death of one of the victims turning up dead. Questions arise and new evidence point to Thea’s family involvement and the possibility of Aulus being kidnapped by the Gemini Thief. Thea, nick and her friends join the hunt for The Gemini Thief in order to figure out the kidnapper’s identity and also rescue the June Boys before they are harmed.

The book was written in Thea’s perspective. It also gives us Aulus’s perspective through letters named The Elizabeth letters. The letters were sad and haunting. I felt their highs and lows along with them. It was difficult to read Aulus’s letters. They broke my heart. The June boys Zared and Rufus and how Aulus tried to keep their spirit alive and how Tank comes in and tries to make things better for Aulus. Every information the letters gives the readers helps us to understand the psychological impact the kidnapping has on the victim’s minds.

The plot was masterfully crafted with the twists and turns keeping you at the edge of your seats. The characters were quite interesting and the eccentricity shown by a few characters makes them all suspicious. The way Courtney wrote her characters keeps the mystery alive throughout the story without leaving any clue as to the identity of the kidnapper. The suspense and the twists will leave you hooked to the story. It was difficult to read about the story from Aulus’s perspective, the hopelessness of their situation and the difficulties they face makes your heart break for them.

The way Thea drops her future and every dream of hers in exchange for finding Aulus and Tank is so admirable. It shows her selflessness and her love for them. Thea and her side of the story were intriguing and help us get to know her character well. She is dedicated to the case and was willing to go to any lengths to find the answer. Her and Nick’s relationship is confusing and fragile. Thea and her family were very weird and that alone added to the whole chase for the kidnapper making you suspect them. The fact that I couldn’t figure out who the kidnapper was is mind-blowing. The suspense at the end was well done.

The book is written in a non-linear format and this can be confusing at first. Once I got past the strangeness of it it was really good. I think the format of the story where we have Thea’s POV mixed in with The Elizabeth Letters makes the story stand out better. The book was able to keep the mystery and the thrilling aspect of it quite well. The letters added another layer to the characters and were able to successfully convey the victims’ feelings.

Overall the book is amazing. It was heartbreaking and haunting. The story was crafted very well keeping the suspense and mystery locked till the end. I highly recommend checking the book out. You will not regret it. I gave the book 5 stars.

If you love YA and are looking forward to reading books with YA central characters, themes of kidnapping, serial crimes, and mystery, whodunnit books, this will be a great book for you. Definitely check it out.

BOOK LINKS

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-june-boys/id1469837083?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780785221906

TOUR SCHEDULE

Blog tour schedule link: https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2020/02/tour-schedule-june-boys-by-courtney-c.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--4RuOBktb1E/Ue162e1qa5I/AAAAAAAAEh0/znKpOjFjgY4/s1600/127085-simple-black-square-icon-culture-world1.png

Courtney “Court” Stevens grew up among rivers, cornfields, churches, and gossip in the small town south. She is a former adjunct professor, youth minister, Olympic torchbearer and bookseller at Parnassus Books. These days she writes coming-of-truth fiction and is the Community Outreach Manager for Warren County Public Library. She has a pet whale named Herman, a bandsaw named Rex, and several novels with her name on the spine.

GIVEAWAY