" Two strangers. One small town. And a choice that could change everything.

The police respond to the arrival of two teens at the grocery store. They don’t speak English. They don’t speak at all. They’re brother and sister and, for all anybody can tell, they’ve been raised in the forest.

Two teens appear out of nowhere, ransacking a small-town grocery and attacking the police officers who come to investigate. Their clothes are torn and filthy, their hands and bare feet callused, they have fangs. They’re sister and brother, alone against the world. Where did they come from? Raised by wolves, they say.

Kai and Holo are taken in by the police chief and his wife, and begin adjusting to life in a small town, attending school and going on dates. But humans, they find, are the most vicious animals. And the mystery of their upbringing brings dark and powerful forces to Kokanee Creek, tearing the town apart and threatening the lives of everyone they love. How will the wolves survive? How will Kai and Holo?"

Quoted material is from the book's Amazon page. My review's bulk will be in the further comments section, below.

James Patterson and Emily Raymond fans, people who like a fast-paced and interesting story, Young Adult fiction fans.

The book was very interesting to me. More in "further comments."

The ending. More in "further comments."

Write my own version of it with a better ending.

At points, I just didn't want to put it down.

About the author: "James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time. He is the creator of unforgettable characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride, and of breathtaking true stories about the Kennedys, John Lennon, and Tiger Woods, as well as our military heroes, police officers, and ER nurses. Patterson has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton, and collaborated most recently with Michael Crichton on the blockbuster Eruption. He has told the story of his own life in James Patterson by James Patterson and received an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal." From the book's Amazon page.

I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library. When I first saw it on the new books list, the cover drew me in and I clicked to read the description. It sounded interesting, so I put a hold on it.

When it was my turn to borrow it, I was excited to start reading it. It had kind of a weird start, switching points of view rapidly, then settled in with mostly being from Kai's (older sister/ teen) point of view with a few chapters from the Chief and a few from Holo (younger brother, also a teen).

I suspect that I could relate more to Kai and Holo than most modern people could. I saw on Amazon that some people didn't like the strong environmental message, but I did. I feel a lot better in nature myself. I wasn't raised with wolves, but I was close with animals and nature, and still am, to the extent that I can be. I was of a much different personality than Kai and I didn't understand some of her reactions. So sometimes she wasn't relatable, but most of the time she was very interesting.

I didn't notice if the authors said when the story was set but it involved a cassette tape and a turn key car, so it wasn't in this century. I don't think this story would be possible now anyway.

I loved certain things about Kai and Holo, especially how they triumphed over very difficult situations and used their wits against much larger attackers. I don't agree with how they were treated at school or in teh final court scene at all. I hope kids aren't treated like that in schools today.

SPOILER ALERT - please don't read more of this paragraph if you are going to read the book. I really didn't understand how the Hardys got away with all that they did. Especially bringing a gun to school and then threatening Kai with it. The fact that Kai got it away from the bigger brother and threw it in the woods before the cops came should not have resulted in trouble for her and her brother. It should have resulted in trouble for the Hardys. There was an eye witness who saw the whole thing and no reason to use that and all the trouble at school (also instigated by the Hardys) against them. The ending really wasn't nice for me. That the kids ended up in a juvenile detention center near the end really ruined the book for me. Even though something else happened after that, it wasn't good enough, in my opinion. They deserved better. The Chief and his partner deserved better. The wolves deserved better. I know I'm a happy ending lover but even so... even if I weren't, I think I'd have been disappointed with the ending.

Am I disappointed that I read the book? No. It was 80%+ a good to excellent experience for me. It was just the ending (there were more than a few chapters in the "epilogue") and the injustice that really bothered me.

Also, I think it's weird that James Patterson had a cowriter for this book but he's the only one listed in the "about the author" section. Emily deserves credit too. This is a very different book than I would expect from James Patterson, so I suspect he coached her and she wrote it. She deserves co-writer status. It'd be different if she just pitched him the idea and he wrote it. Not that I know this for sure, I just suspect it.

So if you want to read an interesting, mostly fast-paced book and don't mind some injustice and a not very happy ending, this is a good one. But if those things are deal breakers for you, I'd probably skip it.

I don't really want to do star ratings for this book because some parts were excellent. I was totally absorbed in the story and literally couldn't put the book down at times. But others made me quite unhappy.

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Created Nov 29, 2024 at 8:41pm • Submit your own review...