Unlike other American crime, Dodgers has no FBI, no sexy tortured cop with an addiction, and every page isn't full of blood and violence. However, crime it is, as the story focuses on a teenage boy, East, working in the lower ranks of an organised crime gang as a look out for a drug house in Los Angeles. We learn how he follows orders from the top and goes on a road trip to another state to kill a judge. The majority of this book is centred around this journey, allowing us to get to know East and the other central characters and speculate who would be someone who would have the traits to be a part of this subculture. Allowing for several plot twists and themes along the way, including sibling love, race, ethics, and the value of hard work, all of which are dealt with untypically, the book is an enjoyable and interesting. It was refreshing to think from a perspective which is totally the opposite from my personal life, in ways I hadn't before considered. Overall this book is steady, and a bit of a slow burner at times. It's not an exciting page turner full of endless drama and cliff hangers, and it's not overdone, which is always a pleasure especially in American crime books. Not to say there is no excitement, there is, but it fits in more the way it is in life, with daily life in between. They eat and stretch and use the toilet and other things that are usually too boring to go into a story. Probably my least favourite thing about this book was the lack of female characters overall, and the odd appearance is quite stereotypical, in contrast to the male ones who came across as so rounded and real. Maybe that reflects the way the men think of them and behave towards them but as a female reader I experienced it as a bit isolating. Dodgers was a good read for me, giving me a new perspective on the crime genre, and educating me to a life far from my own. Its main strengths came from the character development and new perspectives through the major theme exploration. I will certainly think of it in the future when I encounter similar people through the media, a lasting impression that develops my understanding of others being one of the keys to a great book, in my opinion.

The opening was punchy and suggested something exciting to come. The final section set in Ohio flowed really well but then ended rather unsatisfyingly. The other 2/3rds was pretty forgettable stuff. Obviously it's fiction but the storyline was simply too implausible. I couldn't buy into the central element of the plot , which was four kids from 13 to 20, who had been sent on a two thousand mile roadtrip to murder a Judge. I wasn't sure what the author was attempting. This wasn't a crime novel, nor a basic thriller. It was not literary nor was it 'coming of age'. It had strong elements, such as the relationship between East and Perry Slaughter but that ended as soon as it had begun so the whole thing felt loose and unimportant.