The June Boys

by Court Stevens

Gabe Wicks (Narrator) and McKenzie Fetters (Narrator)

The Gemini Thief could be anyone.

Your father, your mother, your best friend's crazy uncle.

Some country music star's deranged sister. Anyone.

Someone is stealing Tennessee's boys.

REPORT SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR.

The Gemini Thief is a serial kidnapper, who takes three boys and holds them captive from June 1st to June 30th of the following year. The June Boys endure thirteen months of being stolen, hidden, observed, and fed before they are released, unharmed, by their masked captor. The Thief is a pro, having eluded authorities for nearly a decade and taken at least twelve boys.

Now Thea Delacroix has reason to believe the Gemini Thief has taken a thirteenth victim: her cousin, Aulus McClaghen.

But the game changes when one of the kidnapped boys turns up dead. Together with her boyfriend Nick and her best friends, Thea is determined to find the Gemini Thief and the remaining boys before it's too late. Only she's beginning to wonder something sinister, something repulsive, something unbelievable, and yet, not impossible:

What if her father is the Gemini Thief?

Praise for The June Boys:

"Not only a terrifying story of the missing, but a heartbreaking, hopeful journey through the darkness." -MEGAN MIRANDA, New York Times bestselling author of The Last House Guest

"Stunning twists and turns. Hang on tight." -RUTA SEPETYS, international bestselling author

"A gripping suspense that hooked me from the first sentence." -COLLEEN COBLE, USA TODAY bestselling author of One Little Lie and the Lavender Tides series

"I was hooked and couldn't stop reading." -CATHERINE BOCK, book buyer for Parnassus Books

Full-length, stand-alone Young Adult suspense novelIncludes Discussion Questions for Book Clubs

• ISBN10: 1690590254
• ISBN13: 9781690590255
• Publish Date: 21 April 2020 (first published 3 March 2020)
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Dreamscape Media
• Format: Audiobook (MP3)
• Duration: 8 hours and 50 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

4.5*

True story, I have never read a Courtney Stevens book I didn't love. That's it, that's the review.

I jest. Seriously though, this was another hit in a long line of fabulous books. The June Boys is a gripping mystery, but it's also a lot more. It's such a love letter to friendship and family bonds, and asks the really hard questions. Like what would you do if you thought your family member might be capable of kidnapping boys every few Junes?

This, along with her own cousin/close friend Aulus being potentially one of the kidnapped, has Thea in a real bad spot. Not only is she absolutely freaking out over her missing cousin, but her own father has been listed as a suspect. And there's the rub: He has been lying to Thea all over the place, so she has no idea who she can trust at this point.

So this book was, like I said, far more than just a whodunit. Thea has such a deep and complex story to tell, and we get to see her story develop with her best friends and boyfriend, too. They support her so much through this, and are great characters in their own right.

There were a few points in the middle that seemed maybe a little long? But for the most part, it moved along nicely, and I was constantly trying to guess who the baddie was. For a few minutes, I was sure I had the culprit. (Spoiler: I was wrong. So wrong.) But I was engaged throughout, and couldn't wait to read the outcome.

We even get little glimpses into Aulus's traumatic time in captivity, as he writes letters to Elizabeth Smart. Now, if you are reading an eARC like I was, these will look like mushy rubbish that you cannot decipher. Good news, when I got a physical ARC, they are readable, and I definitely think they add something to the story- especially if you know Elizabeth's story, as Aulus does, and commiserates with. (I assume that obviously finished copies will be fine, I don't know about finished ebooks though?)

Bottom Line: The June Boys is thought provoking, full of love and mystery and intrigue, full of what we lose and what we have yet to find.