3.5 Stars

I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

In Dear Charlie, sixteen-year-old Sam is trying to deal with the fact his older brother Charlie was the perpetrator of a mass school shooting, leaving fourteen people dead before killing himself. This story follows Sam’s path to attempting to understand his brother’s action and forgiving him.

This is a very emotional and for the most part a very well-told story. Sam is the type of kid you want to take under your wing - he’s quiet and shy on normal days and now in the wake of the terrible acts committed by his brother he’s left to deal with the fallout of that and accepting the hate that’s thrown at his family for Charlie’s actions. There were parts of this book that had me choking back tears simply for the fact that I felt SO MUCH for Sam. I needed to hug him and tell him everything was okay.

I really loved that this novel focused so little on Charlie and the past events and events that led up to the shooting but mostly focused on Sam and the family as they dealt with the mess left behind. When these kind of massacres happen, there are social profiles and every aspect of the killer’s life is broadcast and analysed including who the parent were and how they raised the child - but I can’t remember specific incidents when I heard or even thought about a shooter’s innocent sibling. A sibling that still needs to just be a normal teenager and make friends, go to dances and kiss people they fancy. Sam let us see what it would be like for someone like that. He took on a huge part of the guilt for Charlie’s actions and seemed to think it was okay he be punished for what his brother did and for something he didn’t see coming or control. And not only that but Sam is left dealing with his parent’s grief and their growing hatred and misunderstanding of each other. This kid just had so much on his plate. There is also the fact that in between everything Sam also had to learn how to grieve for his brother, who no matter what he did, he still loved.

“She hugged me tightly and it was then that I realised that no one had ever acknowledged my brother’s death. They talked of his actions, his troubles, the monsters inside his head. But they never talked about his death, or my family’s loss. My brother was dead and he was never coming back. Yes, I mourned him. Yes, I missed him. And I was sick of being ashamed of that."

The bad sides of this story would be that once Sam fell in with Dougie, Izzy and friends, I basically felt like the story turned into another Perks of Being a Wallflower. From Sam feeling ‘saved’ by the group of friends and then completely lost when they turn their back on him to how his crush on Izzy develops and played out, I felt like Sam turned into Perks’ Charlie. There were just too many similarities for me.

Overall though, I liked this book and it was a fast-paced read and kept me gripped till the end. And as I said, all the hugs for Sam!