This is a coming of age crime/thriller book. It is YA and therefore perfect for those just coming into the thriller genre as young readers. I read this first then passed my kindle over to my son so he could read. I think it was fast paced and kept us guessing the whole time. While it wasn't mind blowing, the relationship between the kids was fantastic. I loved reading about them. The dynamic was so intensely compelling and they made this book for me.

I did ask the preteen what he thought. His answer... "I liked it." I call that a win with the preteen age. Three words is more than I get some days.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

I really enjoyed INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT by Levis Keltner. I give this one a solid 4/5 stars and would highly recommend it. My full review will follow shortly.

Thanks to Netgalley and to the publisher for the free advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

The story starts revolving around three teenagers, Doug, John, and Emily. They come together when Emily's sister Erika gets killed to what is rumored to be a satanic sacrifice. The town is devastated and the police are unable to solve this case. So Emily who prefers to be called E, along with John who is the favorite of everyone in the school but suffers from cancer and Doug form a group to go and search the woods to find some clues or catch the killer. Soon other characters will join them in their mission.

The story was decent, but it concentrated on the relationships between the characters more than the mystery itself. I liked it better when the story was more about the three characters. I felt it watered down when other characters joined them. I appreciate it that the writer despite dealing with what you can call a young adult mystery he tried to make his writing style leaning towards literary. Sometimes I felt the dialogues were longer than necessary in some situations or the events were slow a bit. Overall I give Into That Good Night a good 3.0 stars out of 5.0.

I grabbed a free copy of this book when it was available on Netgalley's Read Now section and this is my honest unbiased review.

I am not sure how I feel about this book. Basically a young woman is killed in the forest and a group of misfits, including the victim’s sister, band together to investigate. But really all they are doing is hanging around the murder site. And the reader doesn’t get much actual information about the crime itself. Everything is filtered through the kids’ point of view. Add to this a writing style that was too formal and impersonal for the story and perspective. I felt the author should have made a choice: young adult book about unlikely friendships or literary discourse on youth and coming of age. Somehow this attempt to combine both missed the mark for me.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first time I hope nobody reads my review. Because I really didn't want to be the first one to write something bad as I didn't particularly like this book. And also because I know books are stories that come from the writers' hearts (except for James Patterson, I did his masterclass and read some of his books, they're just commercial research done by some of his underlings). So kudos, Levis Keltner, you're farther than me - you've actually published a book.

Let's focus on the good things:
LOVE the cover.
LIKED the fact that even though this is a YA mystery Levis Keltner was trying to add some literary elements to his prose.

Sadly, that also didn't quite work at times. I've sat through some rather long literary fiction books over the last few years, forcing myself not to leave the seat more than gripping the pages wanting to know more. And this isn't exactly a genre that blends well with the young adult ones. Kids (and likewise minded) just want action, love, despair, good and bad parents and teachers, some wrongdoing and some do-overs. And this book has plenty of that if you can learn to accept the style.

Let me give you an example of how the prose "flows" to demonstrate what's, in my opinion, a forced literary fiction style here. This is one separate paragraph right from the first chapter. And first chapters are there to set the tone, the mood, the vibe. To give you a sense of the writing itself. But if anyone has any idea what's going on in this particular paragraph...maybe after some long thinking and overthinking, they're better readers than I am.

"Afterward, a guy on the baseball team dribbled tears on his desk. The math teacher drew a triangle, stopped before the final points met. She set the chalk on the ledge with the uncertainty of trying a puzzle piece. The room wasn't silent so much as hollow, inside them and out - except for Doug."

To me, this kind of writing seems unedited and for a lack of better words clumsy.

I think the idea of this story is great. Deep, even. Which tends to pluck awards in this genre, as well as earning thousands of positive reviews and loyal fans for anything from the same writer in the future. I mean to say that Levis Keltner is surely making a statement with this story. But maybe next time he could hire a better editor, or go for a clearer style to get across his target audience.

Otherwise, I would recommend this book. It's unique and in the literary world where nothing is ever new anymore, it is actually somewhat refreshing and new.