Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
The summary of this book sounded intriguing. But I really didn't like the writing style. The story being told in 2 timelines was great and the author really captures the isolation and drug and alcohol aspects. But overall, it wasn't captivating for me.

There are hard themes being addressed in Paul Cody’s novel Walk the Dark - drug addiction, prostitution, prison, the welfare system, murder, loneliness, the helplessness of living in a world that largely doesn’t value you, or even see you - all of it told in language that is poetic and visceral. Oliver is a character you’ll fall in love with because he is so aware of his surroundings, and able to convey his feelings in a way that feels intimate and real, even as a young child. He is dealt a bad hand, lives a life that is hard and gritty, and he just keeps putting one foot in front of the other, hoping for better, but expecting more of the same. The story goes back and forth between his life in prison (the why of his incarceration is not revealed until late in the book) and his life with his mother who is an addict and a prostitute. The novel’s title refers to the time Oliver spends walking the dark streets of his neighborhood, trying to make sense of his life, and haven’t we all benefitted from some quiet time in the anonymity of a late night or very early morning, sorting our thoughts and our feelings, and looking for the core of who we are and who we want to be? Walk the Dark is a compelling read, uniquely told and richly detailed.

This book was a little hard to follow with his lol have multiple names and it was a bit slow. The whole isolation was well captured though it just took a bit for me to get into. Thank you for the early access!

Unfortunately this will be a DNF. I found myself struggling to follow along or even care about where this could possibly be going or about the main character. Also, I get his mother having different names but it was still hard to figure out what was being talked about and to/about whom. Also, the lack of quotation marks when the characters were speaking only made this even more difficult to follow.

Captivating prose style, I particularly enjoyed the repetitions and the vagaries of time frames as a character/internal voice element. Slightly underwhelming ending? But this works as an intentional underwhelm to further illustrate the small life of the protagonist.

3.5 This was a pretty interesting read. The sense of isolation was really well captured. I felt uncomfortable in places, which is a testament to the writing.

This was such an interesting dive into the world of a prisoner and the reasons he ended up in this situation. The difficult childhood, repeating patterns of trauma and drug use play such a huge part in how Oliver ends up here. Breaking a cycle is never easy and first you’d need to notice that there is a harmful cycle that’s repeating and decide to fix it.

I like how the narration goes back and forth with describing the current time in prison and looking back on his life. I also really liked how we built up to finding out why exactly he was imprisoned. Oliver’s inability to pinpoint the exact ages and time in his life things happen feels relatable from a trauma standpoint. Everything kind of mushes together into just scenes that happen, but you’re not sure what order they happened in or how old you were.

I loved coming to the part that opened up the meaning of the book’s name. It plays a big part in Oliver’s life.

Oliver describes the women in his life beautifully and nicely, even when they’re not necessarily being very nice and lovely. I like how his mother has multiple nicknames she’s always used, it feels like a way to disconnect yourself from your past self and life. It also seems that Oliver is at least somewhat repeating this behavior for himself too.

The book brings up the realities of being imprisoned for decades and the issues you might face if you get released. The world is changing so quickly and technology is sometimes hard to keep up with even if you’re using it every day. Who’s going to help when you’re thrust into a world of smart phones, social media and streaming services?

There is a lot of heavy themes and issues being aressed in this, so I recommend going in if you're feeling ready to face some difficult realities.