Humber Boy B by Ruth Dugdall

This was such a hard book for me to read. It's powerful, but it is painful. Not because of the writing or the plot, but painful because of the plot.

You see, Humber Boy B looks at child killers and forgiveness. Humber Boy B is a 18 year old that is now called Ben. When he was 10, he was convicted of killing another little boy, with his older brother as an accomplice (his family also threw him under the bus, so he had to carry all the guilt). Now that he's out, the mother of the victim is determined to find him and put him in jail. And of course, all is not as it seems, as probation officer Cate finds out.

So, first things first. This book deals with some very weighty themes well, in my opinion. I'm definitely going to be looking at similar cases (I hope there aren't any!) in the future very, very differently.

Plot-wise, the book was fine. The secret wasn't as deep and as dark as I expected; I guessed Ben's true role quickly after reading his narrative and seeing his brother's appearance. But, because of that, I almost couldn't finish the book. I couldn't bear to see what would happen to Ben. I made myself finish the book, and yeah, that's not a plus point in my books.

The ending made me so, so sad. It's a tragic ending for Ben, which is the most I can say. It's also very unsatisfying, because nothing really changes, and there's no hope. Or if the author tried to add in hope, I missed it because of what happened to Ben. I'm the classic "I want a happy or semi-happy ending with justice" type of girl, so yeah, from my reaction you might be able to guess the kind of ending it has.

Poor, poor Ben. I felt for him very strongly throughout the book, and all the other characters just paled in comparison for him. His portrayal was very well done, and I was really rooting for him from the start.

I don't know if I recommend this book to others. On one hand, it has well written, and it's obviously moving/affects people strongly. But on the other hand, I almost didn't finish it because the doom in the story was almost too much to me. Basically, If you're reading to be uplifted, this is not the book for you.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.