Crying Wolf

By Author / Illustrator

James Butler

Genre

Real life

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Little Island

ISBN

9781915071507

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

01-10-2024

Synopsis

Joey's stepdad, Vinnie, ran away from Dublin over a year ago. Now he's back, and everyone wants to know if he's still a wolf.

Joey wants to believe Vinnie has given up his dodgy ways and returned to be near his family. But he's in no hurry to meet him. With his girlfriend going to Trinity College and his new start living with his aunt, Joey is trying to move on.

But fate doesn't sit on a fence and Joey will have to confront his own painful past and the role his stepdad played in it.

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Reviews

Clare

Joey is trying to get his life back on track after the disappearance of his step-father and a descent into drugs and petty criminality. Lured by his devotion to his step-father, he got himself involved in situations way beyond his control, with people he would rather forget. But now he has a job and a girlfriend and wants to put the past behind him. This all proves easier said than done and soon he has to confront the demons from his past as the present starts dangerously unravelling.

Crying Wolf is a gritty, often difficult read about someone trying to move on but constantly feeling himself dragged back and down. As a reader you really feel for Joey and are almost willing him away from the malignant influences around him. There's a strong sense of people and place and a recurring theme of reinvention as several characters attempt to break from their past.

Covering some tough topics including fractured families, violence and loss, this is a stylish and pacy urban thriller.

276 pages / Reviewed by Clare Wilkins, school librarian