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Dodgers by Bill Beverly is a 2016 Crown publication.

Good, but not what I was expecting.

An L.A. Gang member called ‘East�, finds himself in a bind when the house he is supposed to ‘watch� is popped, causing him to lose his position. But, his uncle, Fin, offers him another 'opportunity' by sending him off on a road trip with his younger half -brother and two other guys to kill a judge before he can testify against him.

So, begins a long road trip style journey for East, who is only fifteen, something I often seemed to forget. But, immediately the gang goes off script, landing themselves in all sorts of situations and eventually find they are at odds, often fighting amongst themselves.

Along the way, East experiences other parts of the world for the first time and begins to ponder on the direction his life is taking, and take stock. The question is if East will survive the trip, and if he will find a way out of the life he seems destined to succumb to.

This is a crime novel, but not in the traditional sense. I noticed after reading the book, that many folks felt the novel was more of a ‘coming of age� tale than a crime story. I would have to agree with that categorization as well.

The author’s prose has been compared to many other heavy hitting authors, which proves this is a special debut and again, I can’t complain one iota about the raw honesty in which this book was written.

However, for me there were a few problems, one of which was my expectations going in. I was not expecting a ‘coming of age� story, and wish I'd known that going in. Another main issue I had was with the pacing. I nearly put this book aside because it wasn’t doing one thing for me and I despite the gritty context and the lyrical dialogue, something I usually just adore in a crime novel, I zoned out and lost track, had to re-read paragraphs, and basically muddled through large segments of the book, and that probably caused me to miss out on some of the complexities and nuances others enjoyed about the book.

I also had to take into account the plausibility factor, which stretched my limits, and I’m usually pretty lenient in that department.

However, I am glad I decided to stick with it, and now that I’ve had time to reflect on it a little, I believe the story is worth the accolades and see why it’s been so highly recommended. East is a very memorable character, and meeting him was worth the extra effort it took to finish the book.

But, I am still stuck on how to rate the book. From a critical thinking stand point the book deserves the highest rating possible, but based on my personal enjoyment of the book, I would have to knock off a couple of stars.

Usually, when I find myself facing that dilemma, I stick to the middle ground, but I feel the writing is worth a better rating than that, so � 3.5 rounded to 4