This is a fantastic thriller with some horror elements. Set in West Virginia, the book starts with Miles having maybe the most eventful night of his life. He sends his parents an email in which he comes out as trans, he goes to a party (yuck) to give his former friend evidence regarding the car crash that killed his friend's mother and changed the lives of four families, and then is violently attacked and nearly killed. Most of this (not the trans part) is related to a century old blood-feud. A hundred years ago, Miles's great-great grandfather, Saint, organized a union among the local coal miners and one thing led to another and he was publicly executed by the sheriff at the time, the ancestor of the current sheriff, Davies. The Davies family wants to stay in power; the rest of the town, especially Miles's family, wishes for democracy and the freedom to step out of the carefully defined lines. It's been a century of acts of revenge fueling acts of revenge, a cycle of violence that Miles might have a chance to break. Despite telling the sheriff he doesn't know who attacked him (it was the sheriff's son and his cronies) and that he'll lose the incriminating photos, Miles in fact has no intention of doing that. And when he accidentally kills one of his attackers and his friend Cooper suggests that they finish the job? Well, this could be the way to end the feud and the oppression of the Davies family once and for all.
I loved it. It's so tense and suspenseful and brutal. It explored the big questions of cycles of violence and the importance of community, and fighting for that community even if it's not always easy. There's also a ghost. I did forget to mention him. Other than that, it's not supernatural at all. The horrors are purely human. Miles is a delight. He's messy and angry and complex, while also being just a kid who probably needs a hug. He deals with complicated issues gracefully. The side characters were also good. I especially liked Dallas and Cooper as foils to each other, both pieces of Miles's past and sort of alternative paths for his future. Miles's parents were also good; they weren't the perfect parents, in regards to Miles being trans, but they grew and were able to change, and that was nice representation. There's also a great dog. Loved her.
As a whole, this is a book that hooked me from a few chapters in. It was such a compelling story. I cannot wait to seek out AJW's other novels. This is finally the reason I need to read those. This is probably one of the best books I've read this year.

A riveting, explosive tale geared towards young adults, namely LGBTQIA YA readers. Compound Fracture tackles heavy issues such as coming out, law enforcement corruption, and experiences in rural West Virginia as it follows a Trans, Autistic teen with left leaning political aspirations on a journey to unmask a sheriff coverup that left his dad injured and others dead.

another book from andrew joseph white that is simply a masterpiece in book form. i never expected to be able to truly see myself as an autistic trans man in any book ever, white makes characters like me the mains of his story repeatedly. it's so important to me. amazing book.

I’m shaking like a feral, rabid dog stuck in the rain. Andrew has done it again. So many thoughts but none cohesive enough to string together?

Five stars, of course, I mean it’s Andrew Joseph White. Of course it’s going to be a five star read. The characters are extremely relatable (especially as a queer, autistic, teenager living in the south with corrupt local politics). Despite this book being visceral, gorey, and packed with every shape of content warnings, this book was so honest. Honest in a way that I feel most books and stories aren’t. Honest in a way that it was so hard to read at times I stepped away. However, also so honest that it makes me love this book even more. Miles and Saint will stay with me for quite some time after reading this. I probably won’t pick up a bandana or a shoelace without thinking about them ever again. AJW has a way of doing that. Of making every line haunt you even years after you have turned the last page.

Compound Fracture is out September 3rd. Thank you so much NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for my eARC copy!

This is the closest I've come to crying over a book in a while. I grew so close to Miles throughout this story that even the idea of something happening to him brought me close to tears. That is definitely a testament to Andrew Joseph White's writing. His stories are so brilliant. Compound Fracture's premise was so intriguing and White definitely saw it though.

I loved how White included different family reactions to coming out as Trans, with Miles' parents reacting negatively at first and then taking time to come around to his gender identity. As well as Dallas being non-binary and their adoptive parents accepting them immediately and wholeheartedly.

The thoughts Miles had towards his behaviour and the way he described things he had to hide to be "normal" was heartbreaking, as was his reaction to figuring out these behaviours would also fall under Autism, the idea that he couldn't be Autistic as he was just an "unsocialised-dog" was another reason I almost cried.

I am neither Trans nor Autistic so I can't speak on the representation from a personal standpoint but just seeing Miles and other characters being validated filled me with joy.

Another element of this story that I enjoyed was how Miles and the other characters acknowledge that while circumstances were the reason many of the antagonists turned out the way they did, it didn't mean they had any right to do the things they did. The element of the story where White acknowledges that even your closest friends can turn out to be the people that hurt you the most and on purpose too was very heartbreaking and realistic.

I loved how the accents in this book were written as well as the love Miles held for his home even while he acknowledged all the worst parts of it.

The history of the Abernathy's was also interesting and I think that theme was carried throughout the book well.

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Andrew Joseph White returns with his third YA novel, Compound Fracture. This novel brings us to West Virginia where the Appalachains hold secrets and a generations old family feud between the Davies and the Abernathy families. Miles is an Abernathy. And a socialist. And trans. And autistic. None of which is particularly healthy when you live in small town West Virginia and the patriarch of the family that hates yours is the sheriff. When Miles survives a violent attack from the sheriff's son, something has to give to end the feud. Miles has proof of what the Davies have done. But how much collateral damage will there be before the ghosts of his family can rest?

This book involves a lot of physical, emotional, and historical trauma both on page and being recounted. If content warnings are a concern for you, definitely check the list provided on the author's website.

I read the first 15% of this book and bought a special edition copy. This book feels like Appalachia. Not always the good parts, maybe. But it feels honest. It is unflinching, raw, and violent. This Hatfield and McCoys type blood feud creates tons of drama, pain, and fear in a small town, especially for those who are different and poor. Whether I agree with the various points made in the book is beside the fact that this book is atmospheric and quietly haunting. It's well written. Yes, even the speech patterns and accent inclusion.

It's hard not to root for Miles, even when he makes poor choices. For me, some of Miles' choices are off-putting enough to keep me from entering 5 star territory. They remove some sympathy for me and leave me emotionally detached, but I still wanted him to find peace in his family and in his town.

That being said, this will be a book that I am happy to have on my shelf along with White's two other novels. This one is undeniably my favorite and I hope it finds precisely the audience that needs it.

’m really happy this book exists. I love Andrew Joseph White’s writing, and the representation of trans people and people with autism. I also adored the family dynamics of this book, and watching the parents grow alongside our main character.

I think a few points were a little heavy handed, but that’s also to be expected for YA, where subtle points might be completely missed. I also thought the plot dragged a bit, but I think that’s just me.

Overall an important read and I’m so glad this book exists, especially for teens!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!!!

I have heard nothing but good things about the author's other works, so I went into this book excited, but trying to temper my expectations in case I got let down.

Y'all. This book is pure FIRE.

This book is horrifying and visceral, but at the same time, it's moving and sincere. While this book tackles heavy topics like transphobia and classism, it's also very much about the importance of family and community.

Not to mention that the story/plot is absolutely gripping. I was tempted to finish this in one sitting, but I made myself pace it out so that I could enjoy it longer. Every chapter ended on a cliffhanger that made me want to keep reading. The author does a great job of interspersing the really dark moments with hopeful ones, so the book never gets too bogged down in despair.

One thing I have to mention is that I was very much NOT prepared for how dark this book got. I think I underestimated it because it's categorised as young adult, but this book gets really heavy.

If I had to critique something, it would be the formatting. The first page of each chapter is all black with white text, and all the other pages are the regular white with black text. The changes in page and text colour threw me out of the story a little, but TBH this is like a really minor nitpick, and also the only negative thing I have to say about this book.

The message is heavy handed here. Blatantly obvious. It’s a revenge story at heart, a family ghost story and a story that needs to be told. ARC was provided by Peachtree Teen via NetGalley. I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The first non-romance I’ve read in a long time, and what a good time it was. I used to love reading all kinds of thrillers, and this might be one of my favorites. The entire story felt like nothing I’ve read before. It was like I could see and smell the rural West Virginia environment with every page, and I could feel every character’s frustration and hopelessness.

The main character, Miles, is a transgender boy and neurodivergent, and it is written so well. One of the most interesting stories I’ve read in a long time, and all of the characters felt original and distinct, no matter how big or small part they played in the story. Everyone was flawed. The exploration of generational trauma, structural poverty, abuse of power, capitalism, etc. might sound like a lot, like it would feel forced to drive the political thriller side of the plot, but it felt so natural and seamless.

There’s no romance in the book, but it does explore Miles’ sexuality and gender identity, which I thought was done well in the middle of all the violence and plot.

This book is graphic and brutal. It’s honest and unromantic, and I loved it. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5/5 stars!

Thank you to Peachtree Teen and NetGalley for this arc. I loved Hell Followed With Us so much that I immediately ran to request Compound Fracture! Andrew Joseph White has a way of writing horror and characters that resonates so deeply. It’s dark, yet hopeful. I’ve never read anything quite like his books.

He also manages to write his stories in geographically accurate voices; this book is set in WV, so the grammar lines up with how a lot of people speak in rural WV. I really appreciate this because sometimes books are set in a certain location, but the writing pulls you out of it because it just FEELS inaccurate. The author doesn’t just do this I the dialogue either, the whole book is written this way, which makes it even more immersive.

As for the story itself, I really enjoyed reading it. I won’t go into too much detail, but reading about Miles and Saint connecting really got me. I really grew attached to Miles, as I find myself doing every time I read a book by this author.

“Let me put it another way. It's like, it's like everyone else got to take a class in elementary school that was 'How to Interact With and Talk to Other People and nobody ever told me about it.” I also love and appreciate how inclusive his books are to not only sexualities and identities, but also neurodivergence. It’s rare to find and I’m so appreciative of it.

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Drug abuse, Outing, Gore, Violence, Child death, Gun violence, Deadnaming, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content
Moderate: Car accident, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent

When I say graphic I mean graphic. Like at one point there's an entire chapter dedicated to just describing the most gory and drawn-out death I've ever read in a book and that's not even all the gore there is.


Representations: https://trello.com/c/PaFot8iC/115-compound-fracture-by-andrew-joseph-white

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I think this book is a perfect example for why the genre "New Adult" should exist. It's incredibly gory and graphic, politics while fine to read where pretty complicated and heavy on that front and in general.. considering YA is sold to kids as young as 13 I don't think it's really something that kids that young would have a good time with.

I thought the characters where as good as always with AJW's books, it's pretty impressive imo how he can take a queer autistic teen story and create such different and unique stories! Representations where as great as always, really love how different the characters across the spectrum are from him, and just how raw the emotions are from them all. Not all the characters here feel properly fleshed out though, there's a lot and we're told more than we're shown for most of them.

The story was a fair bit wild, it kinda was there but wasn't at the same time. Generational trauma and using that as a device to just write gore and politics ig? The character stories are where this book really stands out imo. It might be set largely in reality but don't go into it thinking it reads as realistic. It's batshit insane and everything just works out like clockwork in a way. But if you're going in expecting that - and you probably should be if you've read his other works, it's pretty similar - then you'll have a good time with it. I can't really think of any major issues with the plot other than "how the hell did it reach this level" lol.

Some very nice explicit aromantic rep, and the new side of the autism rep from him was really excellent to read! The shower scene just made me tear up with just how much it made me re-think everything around that!! Honestly this book made me tear up a few times with it's representations oop... It's just the really insane levels of gore that really is what kinda took me out of the book. I've read a ton of horror, I've watched a ton of horror, a lot of gory slashers too. But especially for something marketed and sold as YA... I'm not sure about that one. It was a slightly hard to stomach read for me as a 23 yr old horror veteran - I dread to think how a 13 yr old would handle it. Please can more people advocate for New Adult to become a book age range!! Books like this really just fall into that gap that age range would perfectly cover in my opinion!

*Thank you so much to Netgalley and to Peachtree Teen for the e-Arc in exchange for an honest review!*

Thrilling, bloody and as exciting as it is horrifying, Andrew Joseph White never ceases to amaze me in his writing and the stories he tells from the trans, autistic perspective in a setting where his characters are dealt a shitty hand.

Granted, for me it doesn't match up to the experience I had reading The Spirit Bares its Teeth, but it was still a good read nonetheless: Miles is an interesting character and one I enjoyed reading his POV. The side characters matched energy-wise and vibes-wise, and I found myself very interested in Dallas' and Cooper's character developments throughout the novel.

The Appalachia setting and aspects of the novel play well into the story, in terms of description of the setting and of the atmosphere. The story of the family rivalry/bad blood with the Abernathy and Davies families had me intrigued, especially Saint Abernathy.

Main reason I give this 4 instead of 5 stars is because it didn't stand out from previous reads. However, that doesn't take away from me enjoying this read, and I appreciate the e-book Arc!

ANDREW JOSEPH WHITE ONLY GETS BETTER!!!!

Thanks so much to Holiday House / Peachteen / Pixel+Ink for the arc!

This thriller/ horror book holds a punch. The way that Whites books suck you in, no one does it like him for me. His books are a warm place for comfort (no matter how brutal and bloody the subjects sometimes get) I feel so seen, so moved. 50 pages in and i already cried twice. lol.

This tale of a century long feud between these two families is messy and bloody. It´s about more than themselves, it´s about freeing the working class of the "elite" who´s only desire is to keep on profiting off of them. About community, what happens when a bunch of people come together and say "STOP! You´re no longer treating us like this." About finding your place in the world under the conditions laid out before you. It´s about fighting, for yourself, your family, your community.

White is able to put all these subjects together and create this books that feels comforting and inspiring. To fight for one´s life!

P.S. Thanks for the dog!

Where do I even begin? Andrew has become one of my “instant read” authors and did not disappoint with COMPOUND FRACTURE. There were several points in this book where I wanted to cry from how real and honest the MCs experiences were. This is not a book that’s politically neutral or a book where the characters make all the “right” choices. The story is gritty, the characters are messy, and it all makes for an emotional roller coaster of a ride.

**Race was not really discussed in this novel, but this seemed within the realm of possibility to me due to the demographics of West Virginia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree teen for the ARC!

This one had me crying at work. I know I'm not the first queer in my bloodline, I know there have to be more who came before me, and this story made me ache with grief over never being able to know them. This book was difficult to put down, I breezed through the first third in one night. White's story combines classic elements of a queer coming of age story with the generational trauma of poverty and class warfare. Top that with a realistic depiction of coming out and coming to terms with disability without "permission", and you've got a story that will make your skin crawl, your heart glow, and your inner commie rage.

I loved this book, it’s my favorite book by AJW so far. That being said, I’m going to do my best wrangle my thought into coherent sentences but I make no promises.

I don’t think I’ve ever related to a character or story as significantly as I did with Miles. As an autistic person that has a specific blanket they need to sleep with (lookin’ at you squishy pillow) and has been told by multiple people that, “I thought you hated me when we first met” due to my flat affect, I felt so seen while reading this book. I also related to Miles’s love/connection with his home state. I was born and raised in Montana a very red and rural state. I’m queer and autistic and I love how despite all its problems, West Virginia is and always will be Miles’ home. This is how I feel about Montana.

One of my favorite things about AJW’s works is that they center around the terrible things that humanity is capable of. Compound Fracture looks at social justice, the struggles of the rural poor (particularly those who are also members of another marginalized class) and challenges readers to fight for better world. This story is brutal. It’s definitely not an easy read, but it is a necessary one. This is not a tale about revenge. This is a story about oppressed and exploited people fighting to not just survive but thrive.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC!

Rural trans anarchocommunist punk horror? YES PLEASE, MORE PLEASE.

This felt like classic AJ White with his trademark autistic transmasc teen MC navigating manmade horrors, but with a modern-day slasher twist. I am OBSESSED with how White has shed light on the socialist roots of the rural working class, and Stone Butch Blues should be prerequisite reading. Like, were there numerous self-indulgent political soapbox inserts? Yes. Did I love every bit of it though? Also yes.

White did not shy away from the realities of U.S. rural living, including addiction (the opioid industry strategically targeted blue collar communities), healthcare access and literacy barriers, fanatical conservativism, and unmitigated multigenerational trauma born out of structural poverty combined with isolation. I loved how small realities of rural poverty--like the necessity of hunting for survival and paying off the car inspector--were portrayed without shame or excuses. Some of it had me choked up having grown up in a similar socioeconomic, geographic, and political environment. It hurt to see Miles’ family fumbling with his autism and identity, and the expectations of conformity (especially from women) with social punishment of any deviation hit close to home. On the flip side, the ride-or-die community and take-no-shit attitudes were my favorite part.

My one gripe is that--for all of its beautiful intersectionality in terms of class, rurality, gender, queerness, neurodivergence, and disability--the book didn’t address race at all. This was glaring especially given the book’s focus on police corruption and brutality.

Sometimes I think the more important a book is to you, the harder it is to discuss it. That’s true in terms of attempting some form of objectivity, but it’s also true for me in terms of simply…finding words that are able to hold all of your thoughts and emotions.

I knew I’d enjoy Compound Fracture because overwhelmingly I enjoy Andrew’s work. I didn’t expect it to be like this.

What I can say: White knows how to craft a plot that runs on pure adrenaline, dread, and rage, and Compound Fracture has a tank full of all three. The characters are complex and real in their imperfections. This is not a clean-cut book where queer identity is parsed out and celebrated in a shiny glittery extravaganza. It’s gritty and punk and complex and raw. It’s truthful to the experiences of so many southern queers that can’t afford to care if target has a pride collection or not. The portrayal of a bevvy of undiagnosed or self-diagnosed autistic adults as well as Miles’ own autism on the page is a straight-up gift to autistic people. It shows us at our best and worst, in all the ways we adapt to survive, and teach others to do the same, even when it hurts. Compound fracture faces head-on the lived experiences of a region the rest of the US straight up craps on without any sense of shame, and the people who have always always deserve better. Andrew explores poverty, politics, addiction, medical scarcity, corruption, a strapped education system, and faces head on the systemic injustice at the heart of all of it. He’s created a teenage character we believe can see with a clear eye all of these things, a leftist to root for even while we scream at the page DONT DO IT MILES THATS NOT GONNA BE GOOD, and honestly I think that’s beautiful.

This book is going to stay with me for a while, for a lot of reasons that mean more to me than any other reader. Even with that being the case, trust me when I say it’s worth reading.

I'm always going to love a book from Andrew Joseph White. I think that's pretty clear by now.

This one is a bit different from his other books: there are minimal supernatural elements (#onlyoneghost), it's set in the relatively-real relatively-present, and the body horror is less intense than in the previous two.

I loved a lot about this book, and I'm waffling between a four and five-star rating. Ultimately, there were some clarity elements at the end that were my big hangup. Something goes wrong (that isn't even a spoiler, that's just good writing) but I'm not clear what was SUPPOSED to have happened. I also felt that there were parts of the backstory that could have benefitted from a more explicit breakdown, because I was a bit confused about the logistics, which was a bit distracting. All that said, I was reading an early ARC copy, and some of those things may have been adjusted in the final release.

This book felt a lot more personal than the first two, both for me and, one assumes from the notes, for the author. While I did have a few logistical questions, I loved the characters, the story, the off-the-charts tension, the book's politics... all of it. I do highly recommend this book, but check the TWs as usual!

I read this book as an ARC, as stated above. My thoughts are my own. Also, ultimately going with five stars because while I did have questions, I feel like the best parts were AJW's strongest writing to date, and it's my rating so I do what I want. xD