The Boy is well written, with great characters (some you will love, others you will hate), wonderful dialogue and plenty of plot twists. Author Tami Hoag has penned an intriguing tale of murder and mystery, tossing in enough red herrings to throw even veteran sleuths off the trail. You probably will be surprised by the ending as I was ... a harrowing thriller that will keep you guessing right up until the final pages.
An excellent police procedural ... The two detectives make for effective co-protagonists, and their up-and-down relationship keeps us interested while we’re following their progress through the mystery. Some of the secondary characters are rather two-dimensional, though, and Hoag seems to have a problem finding a positive male character to write about ... the author does an excellent job of creating a convincing atmosphere suggestive of rural Louisiana’s French Triangle ... Hoag is a good writer ... Readers make up their own minds as to whether or not their favorite bestsellers have written themselves out and are just mailing in revenue generators, but in the case of Tami Hoag, The Boy is proof that this author continues to work hard at her craft ... a story well told, and Nick Fourcade and Annie Broussard are an investigative team you’ll eagerly come back to for more.
The plot is delicately intricate, filled with red herrings and laced with themes of bullying, infidelity, abuse, and homophobia. I questioned the inclusion of that last. I think readers might be uncomfortable with the slurs thrown at a particular character and how that person is forced to question their own sexuality ... I think fans of Hoag and fans of grittier police procedural mysteries will thoroughly enjoy The Boy. I certainly found it to be a page turner and was enthralled from beginning to end. My one criticism is that the conclusion was a bit of a let-down and I rolled my eyes some at one of the denouements since I thought it was completely out of character, but that didn’t change the fact that I loved the journey of getting to that moment. So I’m aware the ending might be mildly disappointing to some but would still strongly recommend the story. This is the perfect book for suspense fans to while away a cold afternoon with.
While not perhaps [Hoag's] best work, reminds us that in capable hands the field still has myriad possibilities ... Hoag’s subject, as ever, is emotional trauma – though the tone is marginally less dark than in her earlier work. Husband-and-wife detective teams stretch back as far as Dashiell Hammett, but Hoag ensures that her pair have a very individual quality, encapsulated in their razor-sharp dialogue.
The Boy is well written, with great characters (some you will love, others you will hate), wonderful dialogue and plenty of plot twists. Author Tami Hoag has penned an intriguing tale of murder and mystery, tossing in enough red herrings to throw even veteran sleuths off the trail. You probably will be surprised by the ending as I was ... a harrowing thriller that will keep you guessing right up until the final pages.
Another cleverly plotted, atmospheric mystery ... Hoag puts on quite the juggling act here, dazzling us with multiple theories about the boy’s murder, numerous potential suspects, and plot twists that keep us just slightly off-balance. A welcome return for a compelling investigative duo.
