Review: The Boy

The Boy by Tami Hoag
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Boy, a mystery/suspense novel, is the second in the Broussard and Fourcade series by author Tami Hoag. As a rule, I tend to shy away from books that are part of a same-character series, as I always feel a step behind if I pick up in the middle. Here, however, Hoag has written a haunting tale that stands alone—a harrowing story of neglected children, sexual and domestic abuse, misuse of power, and murder.

There is, first and foremost, a trigger here that needs to be reckoned with before the reader ever engages. KJ, a young child, is murdered in a most brutal way, and it is his death upon which the book hinges. In some novels of this type, that initial catalyst for the story is vague and ambiguous, an event gently couched in expository dialogue and narration. Hoag uses exposition but in that process provides numbing details about the crime that are sure to make the hairs on the back of the neck of any mother stand on end.

The remainder of the book is a web of subplots that connects four families who couldn’t possibly be more different, as the community mourns the loss of a child and authorities seek a killer. Broussard and Fourcade are both members of law enforcement, trying to raise their young son in the Cajun bayous of Louisiana. Genevieve Gauthier is a single mother trying to come to terms with the death of her own son. Sharon Spicer, a woman for whom appearances and security are key, juggles her fiancé and her son Cameron, who are like oil and water. Jojean Florette is a mother in absentia, a fist full of children growing up around her without the supervision of a responsible parent. Each character is given enough of a backstory to foster reader investment. They are complex beings who elicit a range of emotion, from sympathy to disgust, sorrow to malevolence. The collision course of their lives is complicated, but Hoag masterfully weaves their stories together in a tapestry of horrific events that forever changes them all.

At almost 500 pages, this is a read that requires some fortitude and concentration. The payoff is there at the end, though, as Hoag unravels the lies, deceit and confusion. Highly recommended, with the trigger warning caveat above. This is a series I intend to follow!


View all my reviews