‘I don’t have my headphones on yet, but the music is always in there. I have a constant walking soundtrack to my life you see. There is a song for everything.’ In the decade of grunge and Britpop, 13 year old Danny is a music fan in the making. He is also on a mission to deter unsuitable men from his beautiful single mother. With his best friends behind him, a soundtrack in his head and first … love on the horizon, things are looking good, until local nightclub owner Lee Howard comes on the scene and sweeps Danny’s mother off her feet. What do you do when your mother is dating a real life monster and no one can see it but you? A dark and powerful drama about friendship, music and the choice between escaping and fighting back.
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“His confidence expanded at me in the small hallway. I felt blasted by it, shot down. His feet were spread slightly, his legs apart, his chest puffed and ready for war. I felt my insides shriveling up as I stared at him. I felt them rolling over and dying within me. I sensed right away that he was nothing like Frank Bradley, nothing like anyone. He stood in the hallway as if he owned it. He was smiling broadly, the skin around his pale blue eyes wrinkling, and he gave off the air of a man who has never doubted anything in his entire life, not a thing. I couldn’t imagine he had ever been scared, or unsure, or embarrassed or fragile. I felt a bit like I ought to drop down onto one knee. He kept his arm around Mum, and they presented this united front to me, the enemy.”
Thus begins the war between young Danny and his mother’s boyfriend Lee. It is the whopper of all the ongoing wars in Danny’s life, the most damaging and horrific of all the thorns in this boy’s side. Yet, Lee often refers to Danny as his thorn as their ongoing battles escalate and the violence between them escalates. As one reads on, the question arises, who is the thorn in whose side?
Author Chantelle Atkins has written a terrific and terrifying story here; a dark tale of severe child abuse, the drug culture, and the seedy side of small town life. But it is not all dark, for Danny finds his refuge and respite in his chums, and there are several instances of sweet moments of intimate connection as these boys sort out their troubles together. These kids are no angels. They love a good scrapping against the local bullies, and they love to escape into booze and drugs whenever the opportunity arises. Yet, it is Danny who sinks further and further into self-medication when the love of his friends is not enough to dull his physical and psychological pain.
Ms. Atkins does a tremendous job creating and individualizing each of the many characters in this moving and compelling novel. The boys become the reader’s friends, and the antagonists become the reader’s antagonists. Her descriptions of their surroundings, the town, their homes, their hideout, are just as strong; these become characters in their own right, entities that enclose the boys within their boundaries for better or for worse. Her use of musical references of the time (the 1990’s) is like a soundtrack of Danny’s angst, for without this music inside his head, he would truly go mad.
“The Boy With the Thorn In His Side” is brilliant in so many ways. The author’s grasp of psychology believably propels this character-driven saga to its harrowing conclusion. Her talent for creating suspense keeps one turning the pages. She warms our hearts with moments of tenderness and solace that unite the reader and characters.
This is a long read that could use some trimming. There is occasional redundancy and superfluous forays into Danny’s and Lee’s thoughts. However, these minor flaws do not diminish the readability or compelling pace of the story.
A part of me wants to give this book four stars because of this, but the part of me that appreciates brilliant writing, strong characters, and a compulsively page-turning-one-more-chapter narrative strongly desires to give it five.
FIVE STARS! Get this book. You can thank me later.