James's recovery, his subsequent journey to Ireland to search for Stephanie, and the forging of new friendships and a new life, are skillfully told, but this was the only part of the book in which I felt some authorial loss of direction. The dramatic ending wove it all back into place with, at the last, a not altogether unsignalled neatness leaving James and the reader to a hopeful but predictably troubled future. But, on the whole, growing up with James was an interesting, moving and curious experience. And Lawrence is good, too, at bringing even the most fleeting of his characters to life. In all, Anthony Lawrence has written a very readable and unusual book.
Standard disclaimers apply.