Junkyard Dogs was a heart-wrenching, gritty, suspenseful whirlwind of a story.

 

We’re following Josh, a 17-year old basketball whiz caught in an impossible situation. His mom died years ago and his dad has disappeared (not for the first time). His harsh grandmother isn’t interested in taking care of kids, and Josh has to start paying rent in order for his little brother Twig to continue living in her trailer. Josh - desperate and starving - is offered an opportunity from an old friend of his dad’s. He’s got to keep himself and Twig safe, stay in school and on the basketball team, and participate in a criminal scrapping ring … all while keeping up the illusion that he’s okay.

 

As a reader, all you want is for Josh & Twig to stumble into love & safety. And yet Higgs-Coulthard so skillfully brings you into his scared teenage mindset. I could understand Josh’s mistrust of all the adults surrounding him (even the ones who truly cared) and his fierceness to protect his little brother. 

 

We watch him make tough decisions. We’re crushed by the weight of starvation and desperation. We feel Josh’s shame and anxious need to disguise all his troubles from teachers and coaches and friends and friends’ parents. 

 

Yes, there’s a suspenseful plot involving disappearances and murders and uncovering the truth about past events. But I was touched more by the day-to-day moments: the opportunistic leaps at unguarded food, the delight of finding a scrap piece of a bicycle in the junkyard, the mist in Josh’s mind when he’s at school and focused on all his very-adult stressors, the cat Twig feeds over himself, the cautious optimism at new friendships, and so on.

 

It’s chilling and sad, but offers quiet hope. 

 

CW: death (incl. death of a parent), murder, violence, child abuse, toxic relationship, depictions of homelessness, mental illness, fire/fire injury, gun & knife violence, bullying, alcohol, drug use, gaslighting

 

(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)