His SAT scores bombed, the old man he delivers meals to died, and when he came out to his religious zealot mother, she had him kidnapped and shipped off to a secluded island. His final destination: Nightlight Ministries, a conversion therapy camp that will be his new home until he “changes.”
But Connor’s troubles are only beginning. At Nightlight, everyone has something to hide from the campers to the “converted” staff and cagey camp director, and it quickly becomes clear that no one is safe. Connor plans to escape and bring the other kidnapped teens with him. But first, he’s exposing the camp’s horrible truths for what they are— and taking this place down.
This is an extremely important topic. It really is. And the author is clearly a good writer, handling descriptions very well; I felt like I was on the island with Connor and the other kids. I was afraid of the Reverend, I felt sorry for Bill during that one scene...you know the one if you've read it, that was just cruel.
But the pacing was all off, and Connor was completely unfaithful to his boyfriend. He tries to justify it later by saying that he was only in love with what the boyfriend represented, but still. In less than a day, under extremely fraught circumstances, Connor is declaring unending love for another camper.
If things had taken place over a slightly longer time period...a week, even, instead of the day shown here; if Connor had failed his initial review and then decided to take everything apart...I might have found it easier to swallow. But instead, campers who have been there for months or years are suddenly handing over secrets they've been keeping all that time, to a camper who just arrived and who, for all they know, is a plant put there by the Reverend. That and some very squicky abuses of power mean that this will not be one of my top books, sadly.
I genuinely do think the topic is important, and the author has a good handle on descriptions and characters. The story just lets it all down.
Surrender Your Sons publishes on the 15th September, 2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment