Dan and Tamma are the best of friends, so close that they can almost read each other's thoughts. They have a shared love of rock climbing, a passion they try to fulfill every day in the Mojave Desert in California. Both are seniors in high school and come from dysfunctional families that are very different from one another. Dan's mother was a young prodigy, having written a very brilliant and critically well-received novel when she was just 18 years old. Now, she rarely leaves her room. She suffers from profound depression as well as heart problems. Tamma's mother is emotionally abusive. Her father, who has since left, was so physically abusive to Tamma that he broke her jaw when she was little.

Dan is doing great in school and his parents want him to go to college. He is conflicted about this, wanting to continue rock climbing with Tamma. However, his intellect and character make him a great student. Tamma has dreams of going far in the rock climbing world. She is a loud mouth and hates school.. Her jaw clicks from the time her father broke it. Most days, she doesn't even attend her classes. They are both poor and don't have the money for adequate climbing gear. They make do with what they have but there is danger in this.

I read Mr. Tallent's first book, My Absolute Darling, and loved it. I didn't feel the same way about Crux. While I enjoyed reading it, it was too filled with climbing terminology, most of which I was completely unfamiliar with and, to be honest, not that interested in. I wish that the technical aspects of climbing had been focused on less. What I really enjoyed was reading about Tamma and Dan, their lives, friendship and dreams.

This is a sparkling novel about adolescent friendship and coming of age. I thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an early review copy. This novel is slated to be published in January 2026.

This coming-of-age book features best friends, Dan and Tamma, who have a beautiful kinship. They have terrible parents and unfortunate circumstances, but they have each other. And they have rock climbing. Admittedly, I was sometimes a bit lost with the detailed climbing parts of the book. But I understood that this dangerous sport, made more hazardous with inadequate equipment and training, was their lifeline.

I loved Gabriel Tallent’s first book, My Absolute Darling, and have been looking forward to this long-awaited second book. I was completely immersed in the lives of Dan and Tamma, cheering for them, wanting them to be loved, to succeed.

This book is scheduled to be released in January 2026, and I can't wait; I have so many thoughts about this book that I need to talk to people about!
Thanks, NetGalley, for an e-arc of this book.

When I was in elementary school, my parents signed me up for an indoor rock climbing class and I used to crawl up and hide in one of the “caves” behind the front desk so that I could eavesdrop on the teenagers that worked there—this book felt a lot like that.

I’m endlessly fascinated by subcultures, by all the little worlds within the world that have their own languages and rules—and this book seemed to perfectly capture what it is to love and live for rock climbing. The best kinds of books are the ones that let you fully fall into another world for awhile and I was fully enamored with Tamma and Dans.

I was a little apprehensive about reading a female character written by a man (especially one so young) but Tamma flew off the page. She was so full of life and humor and drive that I forgave the occasional forays into the manic pixie dream girl of it all.

The beautiful and often brutal realities of life in the California dessert were expertly drawn and I could not stop turning the pages to see where Dan and Tamma ended up.

Highly recommend if you’ve ever seen a group of dusty, laughing hooligans hop out of an off-roading vehicle to buy beef jerky at a gas station and wondered what they were talking about.

Thanks to Penguin Random House and Riverhead books for the early copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I lived GT's My Absolute Darling- it was raw and visceral and Crux has those same elements. My only negative is that it, especially in the beginning gets very bogged down with rock climbing terminology. I have a background in rock climbing so maybe that's why I felt that way? Rock climbing has an entire vocabulary unique to it but for me it overwhelmed the story. The book balances out eventually. Tana and Dan are fantastic characters and their relationship drives the plot- you really pull for them to overcome their life situations. The climax is very exciting!!

Crux is a coming of age story about rock climbing and being a teenager trying to decide what path your life will take. But it's also a book about loving hard things. And it's a book for anyone who's struggled to decide between following their passion or building their life around money and the approval of others. It's about bravery and love and all the important things. I loved it.

A great story. I loved the friendship between Dan and Tamma. The rock climbing lingo was a bit confusing, but it was still very interesting. All in all, I love the character development and relationship between the two main characters.

Teenagers Dan and Tamma want nothing more than to escape their small town lives in a forgotten corner of the California desert and follow their dream of becoming dirtbag rock climbers. But while Tamma has been living a hard scrabble life in her verbally abusive mother’s trailer, abandoned by her physically abusive father, and with no one thinking she has any potential at all, Dan has been living a relatively privileged life. He feels pressure from his parents to become the first in his family to go to college; they don’t approve of his friendship with Tamma, but he only feels alive when he’s with her and climbing. While Tamma doesn’t really have many options to create a better life for herself, Dan does - he’s a good student with loving and supportive parents - and that tension forms a lot of his character journey.

Tamma is a unique character. I didn’t like her at first - she’s foul mouthed, crude, and doesn’t seem to care about anyone or anything other than Dan (platonically - she’s gay) and rock climbing - but she has a vibrant energy and turns out to be surprisingly capable, hard working, and devoted when her sister and Dan need her. I found a lot of her dialogue to be really unrealistic, overwritten, and kind of obnoxious, but it ends up being so perfect at a pivotal point in the book that I grew to like her.

Through their pursuit of rock climbing and their daily struggles in life, Tamma and Dan both explore if they have what it takes to pursue their dream - and if it’s even still the right dream for each of them as their senior year of high school progresses.

The friendship between Tamma and Dan is the soul of this book and it’s beautifully portrayed - but there are a lot of long jargony, technical passages about rock climbing that are so tedious to read that I almost gave up on the book. I’m glad I kept reading because I did end up enjoying the story and Tamma and Dan’s character journeys but the pages and pages of climbing detail really took away from it for me.

Interesting book- excellent writing on the intricacies of relationships - between lifelong friends, familial obligations, and old rifts. It was neat to watch each teen discover themselves, in their own time. Additionally, I feel like I learned a lot about rock climbing specifics - this is something I've never done. If you're a climber, I'm sure you would love this also!

I give this a 3.5/5.

Crux is a tender and emotional coming of age story set against class hardships and strength of friendship.
Dan are Tamara are two teens in the Mojave desert from families who are, for different reasons, quite dysfunctional. Climbing is their escape and their bond is absolute.
Being very familiar with the world and people in competitive climbing I can attest to the accuracy of the Tallent’s setting. As he described Tamma squeezing the crimps I could imagine the pads of her fingertips tearing. Climbing without a climbing pad on a core shot rope is something only the most desperate, and dedicated climber would do. In doing this you can sense that urgency in her and Dan.
This novel tests the limits of friendship and dreams. Each of the main characters fights seemingly insurmountable struggles. As they mature and face their individual cruxes their futures inevitably diverge. The unanswered question is “did they find what they were looking for or did they settle”? While climbing showcases the Dan and Tamma’s struggles and goals, it is their familial interaction that causes the most angst and forces them to make life altering decisions.
I found this novel gut wrenching and inspiring. The backdrop of the Mojave desert is beautiful and the rock climbing scenes are thrilling.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this exceptional book. It is 5 stars all the way. These opinions are my own.

Appreciated the original plot, characters, and dialogue! Full disclosure, I couldn't actually read the climbing parts because I was too scared someone would be injured at every scene. There were a few times I expected some other scene between characters to actually occur but instead the author chose the less dramatic/slow burn option.

I was initially drawn to this book because of its intriguing synopsis, but overall, it left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. While it’s listed as a thriller/mystery, I’d say it’s far more on the mystery side—definitely no real thriller elements, in my opinion.

The story shifts between past and present, which gives it a YA feel, but what really held me back from loving it was the main character, Danielle. She was just… insufferable. Her personality made it hard for me to stay fully invested, and I think her presence really impacted how I experienced the story.

As for the mystery? It was okay—not jaw-dropping or super twisty. The plot drops enough hints that by the time the ending arrives, it’s easy to guess where it’s headed. That said, I must have enjoyed it enough because I finished it in just two days, so the pacing and premise kept me going.

Overall, Fast Boys and Pretty Girls was an okay read. Not mind-blowing, but decent if you’re looking for a quick mystery that leans more character-driven than plot-twisty.

The author has crafted a compelling storyline and well-developed characters that drive this novel forward. Since the plot focuses on rock climbing, the novel requires the use of specialized language specific to that activity, which sometimes disrupts the flow of the story. Many of the techniques and terms used are not easily searchable online, leaving their meanings unclear to this reader. Nonetheless, the message comes through clearly, and the tough, determined main character shows remarkable strength and focus for a teenager facing numerous challenges. The theme of friendship's power is effectively woven throughout.

A beautiful work of literary fiction depicting the lives of two high-school kids from broken homes forging a deep friendship while chasing their dreams of becoming serious rock climbers living in the wild and living life to the fullest, eschewing the outside world of office jobs, strip malls, titles, and fancy clothes, I loved it and didn't want it to end.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. The rock climbing in this book and the geographical setting was so interesting as I read. The energy from the intensity of the friendship between the characters was definitely palpable and their development was very well written out. The relatable part is the way friendships ebb and flow with the personality differences whether it’s your class, your future, and everything in between. They say this is a soul-searching novel and that vibe is heavy throughout the plot and makes it reach inside and squeeze something we can all relate to no matter what age we are.

“Crux” by Gabriel Tallent is a courageous and risky novel that is as full of heart as the heroine at its core. In all her awkward vulnerability, Tamma is on a hero’s journey. Her depth of character and willingness to search for meaning amongst the rocky crags of our humanity define and drive this book.

Tamma and Dan are best friends, connected through their shared love of rock climbing and their need to grow beyond the limitations of their lives. Rock climbing is the central activity, which engenders the scenes, images, and metaphors of the novel. Dan and Tamma face many steep and complicated challenges. In each climb it is the crux, the most difficult point where decisions impact everything that comes after, that defines who they are.

This is an exquisitely written and profoundly meaningful coming-of-age story. “Crux” digs into the smallest crevasses to find handholds that allow Tallent to ascend to vistas that will take our breath away. In all its specificity, this novel invites us to experience our own humanity with its contingent obstacles and challenges.

“Crux” is a novel about choice and love, as well as discovering meaning within ourselves. It is a book that invites the reader to open themselves to life with all its terrors and low percentage moves. It is about choosing to live and love fully and wholeheartedly, knowing there are risks and there will be pain. We will be hurt, and we will fail. Even so, it is our great privilege to try. It was a privilege to read a book that so beautifully portrays our humanity with empathy and awareness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Press for access to this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Tallent’s narrative transforms climbing into a metaphor for overcoming adversity - a testament to friendship, grit, and the unwavering pursuit of ascent. Beautifully written, symbolically rich.

Set in the Mojave Desert, the story follows two high-schoolers, Dan and Tamma, whose passion for rock climbing becomes a lifeline amid the struggles of class differences, uncertain futures, and personal ambition.

Crux is definitely a peak worth scaling!

Literary Ficiton being my favorite read this is why. Dan and Tamma A1. I just feel I can’t do justice to these books that have such great metaphorical writing. The climbing, the philosophical way of the writing. This book is long but also doesn’t feel like it. When you feel the emotions and actions of the characters hit you , you know you are in deep. I love this book and thank you for letting me have the chance to read it. Books like these are why I wish I could put my feelings into words better.

Tallents first book was an absolute favorite of mine. I told people about it for years afterward and still do to this day.
This book while well written, I just didn't enjoy as much. It is a personal preference of mine, the book was enjoyable. I just know that I wouldn't buy it for me.

Can I explain this wonderous work to you? I am not sure. It is so beautiful it hurts. The characters are real and complex and every single one of them will break your heart. I haven't felt this invested in a story since A Little Life and I mean that in the best possible way.

Dan and Tamma are the best of friends with the worst of families. Living life in the desert, they are hardscrabbling, rock climbing, sharp-witted punks. Their conversations are works of art and their dreams are vast. Neither of them, no matter what the odds, seem likely to get out of the small town.

It matters not, what happens next - Tallent throws obstacles galore at these two but they can keep their heads above water as long as they have each other. Grab this book if you read anything this year - make it CRUX

#Crux #GabriellTallent #penguinrandomhouse

Sometimes I wasn't sure if I was reading a creative use of English or climbing lingo, but I nevertheless added at least ten to twenty wrods to my vocabulary during this one. I went into this book blind, as a galley, and I was quickly so pleased with the request. At the start I just knew Tamma would get on my nerves but it didn't take long for me to love her nothing-but-authentic-but-traumatised self every minute after. I thought the book was just gratuitious language and immature sexual refrences at first, and that's really all it was from the teenage MCs perspective. But it stopped reading as irritating and started feeling genuine, once you embrace the blend of dirtbag and brilliance. I enjoyed the mix of Tamma's and Dan's stories together and separate and climbing and familial. Excellent read!