The first half of this book is unbearably puerile: two children whose first language is Russian are best friends but have a falling out, until the girl gets taken by child protective services when the boy's grandmother reports the girl's caregiver for neglect.

The second half of the book is also puerile, but with enough adult overtones that I really couldn't figure out the audience. The first half would bore a young adult reader to tears so that they wouldn't even get to the second half, and the second half is too adult to give it to a middle grade reader in good conscience (the second half includes everything from heroin to strippers pinching their own nipples to child sexual abuse).

This is a book that commits two unforgivable sins: it doesn't know its audience and it's incredibly boring.