The Boys of Summer

By: Richard Cox

Narrated by: A.T. Chandler

Both a haunting coming-of-age story set in North Texas against the backdrop of a deadly tornado, and a character-driven, deeply-affecting supernatural thriller.

In 1979, a massive tornado devastates the city of Wichita Falls, Texas, leaving scores dead, thousands homeless, and nine-year-old Todd Willis in a coma, fighting for his life.

Four years later, Todd awakens to a world that looks the same but feels different in a way he can't quite grasp. For Todd, it's a struggle to separate fact from fiction as he battles lingering hallucinations from his long sleep.

The new friends Todd makes in 1983 are fascinated with his experience and become mesmerized by his strange relationship with the world. Together the five boys come of age during a dark, fiery summer where they find first love, betrayal, and a secret so terrible they agree to never speak of it again.

But darkness returns to Wichita Falls 25 years later, and the boys - now men - are forced to reunite and confront the wounds from their past. When their memories of that childhood summer refuse to align with reality, the friends embark upon a search for truth that will threaten their lives, and transform their understanding of each other - and the world itself - forever.

©2016 Richard Cox (P)2017 Novel Audio Inc.

intriguing story

great story, poor narration as all characters sound the same from the reader which makes dialogue between characters hard to follow at times

Not bad, but with some flaws

Good: Story premise, suspense
Bad: As others said hard to distinguish between characters.

At the beginning it is relatively confusing. Seems like every chapter is intoducing new character with similar background and all are affected either by tornado or parents. Once the main characters were set up, story actually gets interesting,
I would like to see less past and more present story, but this is just my opinion.
Could be better, so wait until it is in daily deal or other promotion before purchasing.

Good start

I enjoyed the story but agree I felt a little beat over the head with some of it. Overall, though, I’m looking forward to reading more of this author’s work.

Rivoting

Great story. You can never guess the ending.
Great character development. If you like mystery and guessing “who done it”, this is the book for you.

wants to be clever but it’s just forced

Hm, the story could be interesting but the style is labored and wants to be too clever. The author has a lot of wink-into-the-camera moments. There might be about twenty “if this was a – or- it feels like a movie”. One is cute, two is ok, the rest just feels forced. The story wants to incorporate the subliminal message that everything is pre-written but this approach felt tired. The author feels oblige to over explain situations and outcomes. Characters flourish then they just stop being, like a father giving life altering advise to his daughter then falling off the map. Or a bully in his biggest down spiral verbalizes his weakness like an epiphany – very unlikely in real life but maybe in the movies… The twist at the end that conveniently solves the conflict left me unaffected. The last chapter ties off loose ends but one more time it explains the whole thing expecting that the reader has no brain. On top of that the narration is bad. There are only two or three different voice styles. They are not consistent and confusing in places.