I really wanted to love this book! The beginning was great. I loved Christopher and his friends, and I loved Christopher's relationship with his mother, Kate. There was great character development as well. Then the book just got weird. I found myself confused at times especially towards the end. This book is 700+ pages, but I feel that it would have worked better if it was shorter. There was too much going on to always keep track of it.

I also want to mention, that the age of Christopher and his friends felt off to me. Their language and independence (sneaking out, not listening to their parents, etc.) didn't seem right for 7 year-olds.

I listened to the audiobook and want to mention how great the narrator was.