Bryon and his adopted brother, Mark, cruise through the streets of their neighborhood, starting fights, drinking, shoplifting, gambling, and hitting on girls. Bryon starts to think they need some limits on their behavior, but Mark thinks that if they can get away with it, they can do anything they want. The two boys begin to grow apart, and Bryon has to decide what his future is going to look like.

It's difficult to give this book a star rating, because the writing is so beautifully crafted and so powerful, but I hated the actual story. The characters are deep and complex, but their actions are heinous. I wanted to love them because of their deep pain and magnificent hearts, but I ended up hating them all for their disgusting deeds.

No doubt this is a powerful book, but I was literally sickened by the drugs, murder, petty crime, and hatred. The worst kind of bullying goes on with some truly nasty acts of violence. I just couldn't stomach it, and the fact that the writing is so powerful and compelling only made it worse, made me feel even more upset and appalled.

I stuck with the story through it all, because I was expecting a hopeful ending. I was disappointed in that too. The ending is depressing. I had nightmares after reading this.

I would give the story 1 star, and the writing style 5 stars, so I'm rounding it out to 3 stars.