4.5 rounded up

Thank you SO much to Netgalley, Peachtree and Pixel+Ink for an E-Arc of this title in exchange for an honest review! All opinions in this review are my own.

I was so happy to receive a copy of this book! This follows Miles who is a trans kid growing up in the deep south navigating a feud between his and the Davies' family, and things take a dark turn quite quickly.

I will say that this felt like the most political book Andrew Joseph White has written so far, and I am all here for it. He also really nails in the idea of there being no perfect victims, and even some of the villainous characters of this book end up being sympathetic, even if I would still enver condone their actions. The themes of corruption and the inherited trauma throughout the core characters of this book were heartbreaking and so realistic. It really drills in the idea that some of these people really feel like there's no way out, and Cooper's development over the course of the book is probably the best example of these themes. <spoiler>The fact that, after Miles accidentally kills Noah, his first solution is more violence really shows what's going through his head and how the culture of the town and the actions taken against him have impacted him. He definitely was not a perfect victim, and despite his flaws it was terrible hearing about his death was the nail in the coffin.</spoiler>

Miles as the main character felt so raw and real. His struggles and flaws were fleshed out wonderfully throughout the book, and his actions, whilst not always the most logical or morally 'good', really makes you remember that this is just a kid in an awful situation.

The side characters were also great, and Miles' relationship with his parents was very realistic. I think the author mentions this was based on his own relationship with his parents during his transition and it really shows through. Saint was also so interesting, despite the fact he never actually talks in the novel.

Overall, I had a wonderful time with this book. I could probably go on and on in this review about the things I loved, I cannot recommend this enough.

Compound Fracture is a wonderful and brutal exploration about family and small town America. I've read all of Andrew Joseph White's novels so far, and I definitely have to say that this was the one that was easiest to digest without losing any of the edge that makes his work unique. that being said, I did notice some parallells between this and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth in terms of character archetypes— although it has been a while since I've revisited that book.

The much anticipated Appalachian thriller from Andrew Joseph White did not disappoint! From Historically hidden queerness to community strength, this book got me to power through dyslexia to see what happens next!

Miles is just trying to figure out how he fits into a long line of familial bloodshed–from strikebreakers and union defenders to twisted cops and queer rebels, this won’t be straightforward. But rest easy, the dog survives.

I was worried there would be some horrific mass violence considering AJW’s other work, but was pleasantly surprised when it had just enough bite to fall in line without getting out of hand.

If you like stories of resilience, community, determination and revenge that highlight all types of folks, I would highly recommend picking up Compound Fracture.

I am absolutely in love with the stories Andrew Joseph White creates.

Every twenty pages my anxiety and anticipation levels sky rocketed leaving me with emotional whiplash, the ending and everything leading up to it was beautiful and gruesome at once.

A murderous thriller that's less of a whodunit and more of a 'who's going to do something about it'. Seething with fury at the idea that we have to settle for the way things are, White wraps a story about the need for community organizing and resistance against oppression in the bloodiest of bandages.

[netgalley arc] once again ajw writes a book with an interesting premise and an underwhelming execution. i was so interested in this story when i heard about it and the setting was exactly what i was looking for but i was left disappointed by this book overall. the characters felt very much like caricatures, the only one who i felt had any substance was cooper. i liked that the writing reflected the setting in the internal and external dialogue but overall the writing was not for me. i think i have to admit defeat and stop trying to read ajw books, they are not for me. i am past my ya days even when the premise sounds good.

ARC Copy via NetGalley

As a gay trans man who lives in rural Appalachia, I had high hopes for this book. Miles is a wonderful character. I immediately saw myself in him and his struggles in growing up in this area. I feel like folks are going to say that the book is too politicized, but around here our very existence is politicized. I like that the book didn't shy away from that and made these politics a special interest for Miles. I loved his family dynamic. That's how holler folk are. Family comes first and family history is important.

*spoilers from here on out*

I enjoyed the first half more than the second half, if I am being honest. I didn't like Cooper. I emphasize with him and his struggles, but I just didn't like him. He felt manipulative and patronizing towards Miles and I'm not sure if that was the intention or just the vibes I got. I knew his fate from a mile away. Doomed character if I ever saw one. Honestly, I kind of wished that Cooper didn't exist in a way. I feel it would have been more impactful for Miles to have done this on their own or with their family (though I understand why they kept their family out of it). I think the better move would have been for Miles to have let Paul run after their heart to heart and instead of Cooper being the reveal at the end, it was Paul. Kind of like a whole, you can't run from this. Noah would have gotten the same info and I think that would have been a better tie in overall. It might be pretentious of me to say that or think that so I apologize of it was.

I liked Dallas. I think they were a cool character and that they gave Miles something to fight for that wasn't revenge. Kind of a, do it the right way vibes. The ending felt rushed. It felt like lighting a match and dropping it in gasoline. I liked parts of it. I liked the frenetic energy, but I dunno... it felt like it needed more.

I'm glad the dog lived.

I'm happy there was a happy ending.

It was a solid read. I look forward to readong a finalized version and I appreciate what the author was doing. There are queer Appalachian folks who have been here and who will always be here and it hard sometimes, but we keep fighting.

This novel takes the horror from White's previous books and narrows it down to a generation long blood feud in a small southern town and the life of a young trans teen, whose life is upended when he's attacked and beaten savagely. Unable and unwilling to back down like his parents did after facing a similar attack to force them into compliance, he finds himself drawn into finding a way to stop this. And we all know what violence begets, right?
The gore is gruesome in this one, somehow even more personal and unsettling due to it being so human as well. In general I really enjoyed the way injury and violence was written, it was graphic and uncompromising and uncomfortable and I loved it.
The story starts with Miles coming out as a trans guy to his family and throughout the course of the story Miles uncovers two other aspects of his identity, both of which are heavily hinted at throughout the story and made me really excited to see represented (obviously there's the autism, for which Miles finally finds a word through meeting another autistic person and [ he discovers he's aromantic, which I absolutely adored to see! (hide spoiler)]). So if you want a gruesome thriller with some great representation and figuring yourself out this is definitely a great book to check out. I also really enjoy seeing the [T4T autism4adhd commie4socialist queerplatonic relationship (hide spoiler)], which was just lovely to see!
Other topics that are being dealt with are family, community, hauntings, socialism, classism, poverty, unions, mining, disability, ableism (internal and external), intergenerational violence, class violence, police violence, transphobia and homophobia and fighting back against those in power. So pretty much what I was hoping for in this appalachian thriller.
Besides Miles, whose character I obviously enjoyed, particularly the way his brain works and his burning rage and hatred and the fact that he gets to do something about it, I really liked Dallas and Miles' family, but most importantly Lady, the dog. She is such a good dog!
At points I wish the villains and Cooper had been given a bit more character, as I think that could have made the story even more interesting and realistic. Despite this I had a great time and sometimes what you need is a book that just screams in rage and I definitely found that here.

I do not know how to rate this book.
Andrew Joseph White's books always make me feel off kilter. It's not necessarily a bad way but in a way that I need to re-think my world view or or how I do things.
This book continues to do the same; Though, I need to ask is this what life is like in small town US?

Compound Fracture had a much more political look to things than Andrew's other books... and yet, maybe not. It was uncomfortable to read but maybe that's the point.

I really don't know how to describe this book and that's not a bad thing. If you like his books, read it.

Andrew Joseph White's books are always amazing. I love every single one of them, and this is no exception. The book talks about some really hard topics, and some moments are exceptionally difficult. However, the writing is phenomenal and the book and the characters draw you in. The plot is real, and gives you something to care about and something you want to fight for. I recommend everyone reads this book.

Absolutely phenomenal, another banger by AJW. I couldn't put this book down and I read it in one day. The horrors really got to me, and it made me feel so many uncomfortable feelings, and as a horror book, this is exactly what I wanted from it. I thought all the characters were written really well, and I liked Miles's exploration of his identity even with so much trying to stop him.

5/5 stars I will read anything this man writes

"It's easy to think there's monsters in the woods when the woods are more than happy to let you die."

Haunted by the family rivalries of past and present, our main character Miles gets ambushed in the woods at a party. After waking in the hospital, he starts seeing faces from the past.

I enjoyed how the book tackled trans and aromantic identity! It felt relatable and captured my own experiences so well! When reading about Miles's character I felt like I was looking in a mirror. The way AJW wrote about the MC being neurodivergent truly spoke to me, and was incredibly well done.

Something I didn't like was how surface level the book felt at times, however I feel that's just something that comes with any young adult book since it introduces teens to different topics and ideologies. So if you usually read ya it won't be noticeable!

Lastly, something I really adored was the nuance of living in a more conservative area in the U.S. and how sometimes the people around you may suck, but at the end of the day, it's still home to you. The friendships and supernatural elements were some of my favorite parts of this story as well. Learning more about Miles's family history truly captured my attention.

I am foaming at the mouth (celebratory). AJW doesn’t miss…

Trans dude haunted by his family’s past struggles–literally? Cool dead people? Autistic rep? Appalachia? Haunting past/haunted future? A dog that lives? Assholes fucking around and finding out? Socialist-focused Heathers? Yea, I’m hooked.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc.

Thank you so incredibly much to Peachtree Teen and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I completely and utterly adore both of Andrew Joseph White’s existing novels, Hell Followed With Us and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, so I was heavily anticipating this book and even pre-ordered it the day it was available, even before the cover art reveal. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for TSBIT as well and I am simply a lifelong fan of AJW! I cannot overstate how much I wished I could’ve had these books and this kind of representation as a queer teen!

Compound Fracture is an Appalachian horror novel that tells the story of an autistic, trans, aromantic teen named Miles Abernathy as he fights back against a generations long blood feud. The relationships and characters in this book were complex and well-written, the plot was super interesting and paced well, and the writing was atmospheric. I really appreciate the representation in this book on so many levels! From showing rural folks that aren’t bigots (many are allies or queer themselves!and leftists and anarcho-socialists!) to an array of disabled, fat, autistic, queer characters across the board. So refreshing and always done so well by this author. I especially loved the historical elements of the story, and the ghost we get to know. Who doesn’t love when there’s a ghost involved in the story and you can’t tell if it’s real or a hallucination?!

(I have to mention our lovely Lady, such a sweet and protective best friend! The dog does not die! LOL)

This was a truly gripping, hard to put down, bloody story and I adored it from start to finish. AJW knows just how to tell readers in! I will be eagerly awaiting his adult debut that’s up next!

4 star rating from me. I loved this book the way it was written. The story line was genious. Super amazing.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was BRUTAL, but so well done and written. I do miss a bit of the supernatural that's so present in his other books, but White knocks it out of the park with pacing, brutality and storytelling. I think it may be one of my new favorites. Plus, Lady the dog is fine <3

Since Andrew Joseph White's first release, Hell Followed With Us, I have been an avid fan and have been lucky enough to receive early copies of each of his subsequent releases. With each new novel I am stunned and my gut churns in the best way possible through the amazing and beautifully gruesome horror that he can paint on the page. Compound Fracture is just a bloody horror novel about a trans autistic boy in Appalachia, and it is the EXACT kind of representation that I wish I was able to read as a teen. This is such an important and flat-out amazing novel for so many reasons from the characters, the relationships, the nitty-gritty of how the story unfolds; every single aspect had me hooked from the start. I cannot wait for publication day to finally get a printed copy in my hands!!!

Thank you for the ARC! Having read (and loved) Hell Followed With Us and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, I've been excited for this one for a while, and it absolutely delivered. I loved the biting and bloody realism of the prose - as with previous books from White, there were multiple descriptions that made me physically wince, and I take that as an absolute positive in horror and thriller works. Miles's POV was a delight to read - his anger, guilt, and hard-earned hope formed a flawed and lovable protagonist to follow, which is an area in which AJW always excels. Also, credit for balancing the harsh realism of the story and setting (there's a fate which befalls a character towards the end that absolutely devastated me, and yet was perfectly narratively placed) with moments of hope and triumph and success. A book that made me want to fight against injustice and also hug my family. Will be reading again.

Thank you NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the E-Arc!

COMPOUND FRACTURE is another banger by Andrew Joseph White, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the way this author writes queer, autistic identities and folds in how that experience impacts literally every aspect of his characters' lives. Miles Abernathy is no different but I’ll go ahead and be cheeky in saying Miles is my favorite AJW protagonist thus far.

This book is atmospheric and lovely, a true love letter to West Virginia and the Appalachian region. Compound Fracture made me feel so very homesick it was actually insane to be laying awake reading it and seeing my childhood in AJW’s imagery. Compound Fracture felt like sitting in my hometown listening to someone I haven’t spoken to since highschool catch me up on this crazy thing that happened to him. Reading it sincerely felt like coming home.

I think Compound Fracture is a book everyone should read but especially those of us queer people from the South that never see ourselves in queer media. This one’s for us.

Things I liked:

- Combatting the “every person in rural America must be a conservative bigot” thing. Finally!!! Representation of us left-leaning queer folk that are doing our best to change things in our dinky towns. (Also note that both parties screw over rural populations! Thank you AJW this meant so much to ME specifically)

- Dallas. Dallas my beloved. Everything about their character had me kicking my feet at three in the morning. A fat, queer, agender, disabled person in my YA book? More likely than you think. Dallas and Miles’ friendship was genuinely one of my favorite parts of the novel. Their text messages are exactly like how I talk to my other queer friends and it was so refreshing to see that on page. Also they really are the textbook ADHD/Autism best friends duo.

- I’ll be thinking about Saint Abernathy and trans history for the rest of my life.

- Miles’ family in general. I loved that we see how much they support Miles even though it takes some members of his family a bit of time to get there. They love Miles and it shows every single time they’re on page interacting with him. This was a breath of fresh air for real and was one of the more relatable parts of the book for me. Also the neurodivergent coding of both of Miles’ parents… Miles noting that autism is genetic. Yeah. Yeah buddy me too.

- THE AUTISTIC REP! AJW DID THAT and Keeps doing it and I lose my mind every time I see it! “Unsocialized dog” yeah me too ME TOO!!!

Things I didn’t quite like:

- The heavy-handedness of some of the politics. I think the history and politics of Miles’ area of West Virginia is his special interest so in a way it makes sense that we see so much of it over and over again. However towards the end of the book we get a several paragraphs long breakdown of all the political history that got us from point A in Twisted Creek’s history to point B of where we’re at in the book and my eyes glazed over while reading it because at that point in the book, the reader already knows why Miles is doing what he’s doing and why the Davieses are the way they are.

- Pacing. The pacing of Compound Fracture is confusing. I’m not the kind of person to sit and binge-read a book, to begin with, but the first half of this book up until the first killing felt sluggish. But once we got to the last 90 minutes, I buckled in for the ride and did in fact stay up till 3am to finish because that was where I needed to know what was going to happen next. There will be a big event, rest and deliberation, another event, more rest, and then AJW’s classic short chapters that punch you in the face. I still can’t tell you how much time passed between the inciting incident and the end beyond Miles telling us there are two weeks until his senior year of high school.

- A lot of the “villains” in Compound Fracture take on cartoonish characteristics that make me believe them less. Where Miles and his surrounding support system are well-developed and fleshed out, the villains are fairly one-sided and two-dimensional. AJW doesn’t let us forget we’re supposed to hate Sheriff Davies and Noah (and his posse.), but he doesn’t give us a reason to root for Miles to beat them either. That is to say, I feel like my head is being pointed in the direction of where the narrative is going instead of coming to conclusions myself. Don’t get me wrong, the villains are terrible people, I know that they’re terrible, but they don’t exist beyond being terrible. Maybe this is because the book is YA but I don't want to chalk it up to that quite yet.

Nitpicks:

- Something I notice myself thinking while reading AJW’s books is that I wish we could lean away from the Cis-Male love interest turned cruel semi-villain. Cooper is a flawed character and that makes him beyond interesting because we see him try and fail like a stalled engine and that’s genuinely more intriguing. Cooper is such a dynamic character that I couldn’t help but want more from him. In Hell Followed With Us we get a couple of chapters in Nick’s perspective and I wish we could’ve had that for Cooper because he’s easily one of the most interesting characters in Compound Fracture. If Miles is an unsocialized dog, then Cooper is the dog you see chained up on your neighbor’s porch that finally slipped its chain.

- Miles does flawed things but he is not a flawed character. The things he messes up always end up working out for him in the end and when he goes through events that are absolutely heinous and gut-wrenching, there’s always a “reason” for them or something that ties what’s happened to him to Twist Creek’s history. Again! I think it comes off this way because I think Miles’ special interest is Twist Creek and its history, but it feels like he does nothing wrong throughout this book and that gets exhausting after a while.


Overall, this is a solid four star read. I’ll pick up anything Andrew Joseph White writes because he’s doing the thing when it comes to representing trans, autistic, queer voices in his novels.

One of the best books I’ve read in a while, Compound Fracture is quick-paced, dark, but filled with a strong sense of humanity. I adored the main character, he was human, flawed in the way we all are, but fighting for what he believed in. It was wonderful to see a trans main character, especially one who was aromantic but not necessarily asexual, and I adored the autistic representation as well. I couldn’t put the book down, the way Andrew writes draws you in, and enraptures your feelings. I am so glad to have read this book, and I plan to read his other. books very soon.