Into the Light

By: Mark Oshiro

Narrated by: Alejandro Ruiz

Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning author Mark Oshiro (Anger is a Gift) returns with a new contemporary coming-of-age novel laced with a twisty, dark mystery you’ll have to hear to believe.

Hidden Secrets Always Come to Light.

Manny lives by the rules—the rules that have kept him moving, kept him alive, and have helped him survive being thrust into adulthood long before he was ready. It’s been a year since breaking the rules got him cast out of his family. But the existence of an unidentified body found in the hills of Idyllwild, California is drawing him back to his deepest trauma because he may know who it is.

Eli lives for the future—he’s put his entire faith into the teachings that raised him: family, duty, and love. After all, obedience leads to deliverance from a harsh world into an eternal paradise. But why doesn’t Eli remember his past? What if he can’t escape the doubt that eats away at his foundation of belief?

For fans of Courtney Summers and Tiffany Jackson—Into the Light is a thrilling, ripped-from-the-headlines story about the traumas facing a nation and two young men caught in the crossfire of inherited pain and their crisis of faith, all with Oshiro’s signature mix of raw emotions and gorgeous depiction of queer resilience.

©2023 Mark Oshiro (P)2023 Spotify Audiobooks

Amazing story

The story pulls you in … destroys your reality… remakes your reality… makes you believe in the good in people

Well written. Amazing narration.

*slight spoiler kind of?
Once the mystery was revealed I was a little disappointed just because it wasnt the route I was expecting but this is amazingly written and one of the best narrations ive ever heard. Will be looking into both the narrator and authors other books!! Amazing and believable characters. 10/10

very Intriguing

Heart breaking and heart warming, mysterious and marvelous. It was a ride that I wasn't prepared for.

Suspenseful and Brilliant

What I love about Mark Oshiro’s work, is how easily the reader can connect with and feel the emotions emanating from the characters and by extension, their author. Into the Light is no exception. This is a beautifully written, dark and thought propelling story that makes you ride waves of anger, sadness, fear, paranoia and heart break. But all of this is worth the ride so you can truly appreciate the hope, courage, warmth, true acceptance and true love that can come from finding a chosen family, like the Varela’s, and chosen life as Manny does.

Because this is the audio book, I was not able to reference the trigger warnings that is noted as being at the back of the book and had to do a search online. I would recommend this for anyone who would benefit from these warnings prior to listening to this book.

With that being said, this story can’t help but make you stop and digest what is easily hidden from sight in our daily lives. I believe this was described as a coming-of-age novel but what Manny goes through is literally a forced-to-age journey. While he himself does not see it, his courage and determination to fight for himself and what he believes leaves me awestruck. I would never wish his journey and experiences on anyone but he is a true hero in his own story with so much heart, something he probably does not truly realize he has until the end of the story.

I absolutely recommend this novel.

Alejandro Ruiz was an amazing narrator that I would gladly listen to again and again.

It all comes together great

Well written, well read, and you wont expect the plot twist.
The ending is fantastic as well. definatly worth your time.
10/10 they should make this a movie.

Wonderful read

A great story that keeps you pulled in and guessing the entire time. The narrator also did an amazing job conveying all the emotions of each character.

Ruined by the twist

You ever watch an M Night Shyamalan movie, you know the ones, and you’re in it—you’re invested—but then the “twist” happens and all of a sudden you’re rolling your eyes and completely out of the movie? Yeah, that’s this book for me. I was into this, I actually even liked the narrative style with the rapid shifts in perspective and time. I liked the message it was giving. But then it had a twist that was so out of left field, so utterly unbelievable, that it sucked me right out and I struggled to finish. It could’ve worked if there had been more in the vein of what the twist was (I don’t want to spoil it). I maybe could’ve gotten behind it if the fallout of the twist and character reactions were believable but it was all a huge miss for me. I did finish because the narrator was great and I overall love the story this book was telling (even if it was somewhat undercooked and ham fisted at times). Anyway, I could go on but that’d spoil much of the plot and I’m sure there are people who won’t mind the 180 as much as I did and find enjoyment and hope in it. In the end 2.5 stars for me.