I was very curious what this book would be like and I’m glad I went into it with an open mind. This book does not glorify anything but rather shows a side of the mental affliction. Daniel is an interesting character and the overall plot held my interest the entire time I read. This book does a pretty good job of showing what Daniel is like inside and out and how he navigates his life and his issues. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I appreciated the care that the author put into tackling this difficult subject. The writing was excellent and there were a lot of different perspectives included.

I went into this book with hesitation, yet I found myself drawn in by how carefully the author approached such a charged subject. The most powerful moment for me was a line that made everything click: “Pedophilia is a DSM-5 disorder, and those who suffer from it are victims… however, any individual that actuates in a non-consensual manner unto someone else is no longer a victim, but indeed a perpetrator of victimization, and, in the case of pedophilia, considered a sex offender.” That distinction is the heart of this story. The author explores it with patience and discomfort and a surprising amount of humanity. The internal struggle of someone living with this disorder is drawn with such clarity that I often caught myself pausing, thinking, trying to understand rather than react.

What struck me most is how the final chapter refuses to give clean answers. I tend to want straightforward rules about right and wrong, yet this book kept pulling me back into the gray. It doesn’t glorify anything. It doesn’t excuse anything. But it shows how messy and painful it is to live with an identity the world wants to flatten into one word. At the same time, the book exposes the darker sides of society: the publishing team hungry for a headline, eager to create a monster even if it destroys a human being; the uneasy questions about homelessness and who gets help, who gets believed, and who gets pushed aside. Those parts made me angry in a way I didn’t expect.

I’ll admit there were moments when the story lost me a little, yet I still walked away feeling like I’d read something rare. This is a fascinating, uncomfortable, and important book. Not because it tells you what to think, but because it doesn’t let you hide behind the easy version of the world. I’d encourage anyone to give it a chance, especially if you’re willing to sit with complexity instead of certainty.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

First I read Cinder and loved it so I found this book by the same author. Did the title make me hesitate? Yes but I was intrigued. I began reading and began questioning if I had made a mistake. I began to ask myself why would an author choose this topic and what could possibly come from it. I continued reading. Did I put the book down a few times because I was uncomfortable and worried about where the story was going and what its message was? Yes. But I needed to understand so I read on. I finished this book last night and I am so glad that I did. Robin Murarka is a different breed of writer. His willingness to broach this topic and yet create characters that were so real and messy and human was transformative. I was shedding tears as I read the last page. The humanism, empathy and compassion shown in this book was a much needed salve for my wounds from this world I currently am experiencing. I absolutely loved this reading experience and it literally changed something inside me.