I loved this book, it’s my favorite book by AJW so far. That being said, I’m going to do my best wrangle my thought into coherent sentences but I make no promises.

I don’t think I’ve ever related to a character or story as significantly as I did with Miles. As an autistic person that has a specific blanket they need to sleep with (lookin’ at you squishy pillow) and has been told by multiple people that, “I thought you hated me when we first met” due to my flat affect, I felt so seen while reading this book. I also related to Miles’s love/connection with his home state. I was born and raised in Montana a very red and rural state. I’m queer and autistic and I love how despite all its problems, West Virginia is and always will be Miles’ home. This is how I feel about Montana.

One of my favorite things about AJW’s works is that they center around the terrible things that humanity is capable of. Compound Fracture looks at social justice, the struggles of the rural poor (particularly those who are also members of another marginalized class) and challenges readers to fight for better world. This story is brutal. It’s definitely not an easy read, but it is a necessary one. This is not a tale about revenge. This is a story about oppressed and exploited people fighting to not just survive but thrive.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC!

Rural trans anarchocommunist punk horror? YES PLEASE, MORE PLEASE.

This felt like classic AJ White with his trademark autistic transmasc teen MC navigating manmade horrors, but with a modern-day slasher twist. I am OBSESSED with how White has shed light on the socialist roots of the rural working class, and Stone Butch Blues should be prerequisite reading. Like, were there numerous self-indulgent political soapbox inserts? Yes. Did I love every bit of it though? Also yes.

White did not shy away from the realities of U.S. rural living, including addiction (the opioid industry strategically targeted blue collar communities), healthcare access and literacy barriers, fanatical conservativism, and unmitigated multigenerational trauma born out of structural poverty combined with isolation. I loved how small realities of rural poverty--like the necessity of hunting for survival and paying off the car inspector--were portrayed without shame or excuses. Some of it had me choked up having grown up in a similar socioeconomic, geographic, and political environment. It hurt to see Miles’ family fumbling with his autism and identity, and the expectations of conformity (especially from women) with social punishment of any deviation hit close to home. On the flip side, the ride-or-die community and take-no-shit attitudes were my favorite part.

My one gripe is that--for all of its beautiful intersectionality in terms of class, rurality, gender, queerness, neurodivergence, and disability--the book didn’t address race at all. This was glaring especially given the book’s focus on police corruption and brutality.

Sometimes I think the more important a book is to you, the harder it is to discuss it. That’s true in terms of attempting some form of objectivity, but it’s also true for me in terms of simply…finding words that are able to hold all of your thoughts and emotions.

I knew I’d enjoy Compound Fracture because overwhelmingly I enjoy Andrew’s work. I didn’t expect it to be like this.

What I can say: White knows how to craft a plot that runs on pure adrenaline, dread, and rage, and Compound Fracture has a tank full of all three. The characters are complex and real in their imperfections. This is not a clean-cut book where queer identity is parsed out and celebrated in a shiny glittery extravaganza. It’s gritty and punk and complex and raw. It’s truthful to the experiences of so many southern queers that can’t afford to care if target has a pride collection or not. The portrayal of a bevvy of undiagnosed or self-diagnosed autistic adults as well as Miles’ own autism on the page is a straight-up gift to autistic people. It shows us at our best and worst, in all the ways we adapt to survive, and teach others to do the same, even when it hurts. Compound fracture faces head-on the lived experiences of a region the rest of the US straight up craps on without any sense of shame, and the people who have always always deserve better. Andrew explores poverty, politics, addiction, medical scarcity, corruption, a strapped education system, and faces head on the systemic injustice at the heart of all of it. He’s created a teenage character we believe can see with a clear eye all of these things, a leftist to root for even while we scream at the page DONT DO IT MILES THATS NOT GONNA BE GOOD, and honestly I think that’s beautiful.

This book is going to stay with me for a while, for a lot of reasons that mean more to me than any other reader. Even with that being the case, trust me when I say it’s worth reading.

I'm always going to love a book from Andrew Joseph White. I think that's pretty clear by now.

This one is a bit different from his other books: there are minimal supernatural elements (#onlyoneghost), it's set in the relatively-real relatively-present, and the body horror is less intense than in the previous two.

I loved a lot about this book, and I'm waffling between a four and five-star rating. Ultimately, there were some clarity elements at the end that were my big hangup. Something goes wrong (that isn't even a spoiler, that's just good writing) but I'm not clear what was SUPPOSED to have happened. I also felt that there were parts of the backstory that could have benefitted from a more explicit breakdown, because I was a bit confused about the logistics, which was a bit distracting. All that said, I was reading an early ARC copy, and some of those things may have been adjusted in the final release.

This book felt a lot more personal than the first two, both for me and, one assumes from the notes, for the author. While I did have a few logistical questions, I loved the characters, the story, the off-the-charts tension, the book's politics... all of it. I do highly recommend this book, but check the TWs as usual!

I read this book as an ARC, as stated above. My thoughts are my own. Also, ultimately going with five stars because while I did have questions, I feel like the best parts were AJW's strongest writing to date, and it's my rating so I do what I want. xD

The representation of gender queer characters and neurodivergent characters ties for first for my favorite part of this book. The other candidate is Lady, the dog on the cover, the best girl, who is totally fine btw if you were concerned,

I loved the descriptions in this story, the imagery and beautiful writing. The working class culture of Appalachia absolutely shines in this entire book and is probably the main reason I was so hooked. As most good thrillers, this was fast paced in the best way and kept me continually coming back for more. This was the first book I’ve had the pleasure of reading by White (I know, a travesty) and I will absolutely be picking up more (because I know they’re already in my never ending TBR.) I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA horror, thrillers, Appalachia, dogs, supportive families and too-relatable neurodivergent tendencies.

This review is also posted on Goodreads! Thank you so much to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC for free, I am eternally grateful.

I absolutely loved Hell Followed with Us and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth but unfortunately Compound Fracture is my least favorite of the three. I loved the representation in this story - Miles as a main character who is potentially autistic and a best friend who is non-binary was fantastic - I loved how accepting Miles's family is about what he is going through and how supportive they are.

I still really enjoyed this book and although it wasn't nearly as gruesome as the first two it still had moments that I was truly shocked was in a YA book. Andrew Joseph White is a master of descriptions and showing the harsh realities of our world.

Andrew is an auto-buy author for me at this point and even though this was my least favorite of the three I still had a good time reading and was shocked at those final few chapters

Andrew Joseph White can do no wrong. He has done it yet again and wrote an absolutely perfect horror book. This one is now officially my favorite as someone who grew up in a strict religious community. This book was perfect and I can't do anything but ramble about how perfect.

4⭐️

Miles Abernathy's family has been in the middle of a blood feud with the Sheriff's family for centuries, made only worse following the 'accident' that injured Miles father, killed several people and stopped the effort to remove the Sheriff from office. On the night that sixteen year old Miles comes out to his parents as trans, he sneaks out to attend a party armed with photos that would prove the Sheriff was behind the accident. Miles ends up being attacked and almost killed by the Sheriff's son and in the aftermath he starts seeing the ghost of his ancestor, Saint Abernathy, he began the family feud. While Miles fights back against the oppression his family is under, he finds others in Twist Creak who want out from under the Sheriff's influence as well and he finds that he'll have to work with Saint and other town members to stop the Sheriff's reign.

This was every much as graphic as AJW's other books and that's something I absolutely love about them. This was a great look at the prejudices that a lot of people from the Appalachia area and further in the South see, especially the poor. The struggle we see for Miles, Cooper, and Dallas face while just trying to make ends meet felt very relatable. While I grew up north of Appalachia, I did grow up in a small town and the family feud aspect also felt very believable and lead to a lot of tension that kept the 'lower class' from getting ahead. I do wish we had gotten more history about the family feud outside of it starting with Saint, especially what lead to it surviving for so long.

I did like how Miles' entire family was neurodivergent, even if not diagnosed. Miles' parents had many work arounds for things like food sensitivities, over stimulation and hyperfocus that Miles honestly doesn't realize that a lot of his own habits and struggles might stem from autism. His complaints about showering (the noise, the water temperature, being wet afterwards, etc.) stand out specifically and when he learns about someone else with autism who has work arounds for all his complaints, it's life changing. Another things that stood out was Miles' sense of justice and always needing to be right. At times, it almost came across as unauthentic to follow this person who is so morally good all the time, but as this was told from Miles' POV, that autistic sense of justice plays more into the story rather than Miles just needing to always be right.

For anyone concerned about the dog on the cover, Lady was the goodest girl and made it through everything just fine!

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for providing this ARC to me!

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Compound Fracture is a young adult queer thriller that I really enjoyed as someone who doesn't usually read books in this genre. I've been meaning to read from this author for a while and I'm so glad I finally got the chance. I love the covers of his books and I knew White was the one for me to get out of my comfort zone so I can start diving a bit more in the horror and thriller genres. While this is young adult, the author does not shy away from gruesome elements and, as an adult who studied children's literature, I believe it's great and needed in a literature for young people (as my thesis director would say, kids deserve a “complete literature” meaning every genre and every topic). This is a book that also shows the trans experience (+ autism spectrum and aromanticism) and I am so glad young adults have representation, even when the characters are rather morally grey.

I found myself particularly interested in the Appalachian culture represented in the book. To be quite honest, I didn't know a single thing about it, which is a shame because I studied American literature; we covered a lot but I don't recall any professor ever mentioning it. And not only you can tell the author wrote a love letter to the Appalachian region, but it's also what drew me into picking up the book every day: portraying West Virginia, discussions about politics (it's interesting to see Americans’ relationship to leftist politics and how the Cold War and specifically McCarthyism influenced it), about class, poverty, characters that don't come from a culturally bourgeois background (you don't have to be amongst the rich to grow up in a culturally bourgeois environment, meaning you were privileged if you had access to culture, to literature such as libraries, if you had family encouraging cultural activities, learning an instrument, taking dance classes, if you lived in a city…). These are the type of characters I want to read about now, another example is Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-jin.

As I believe any good thriller should, this one was quite fast paced but still had moments to catch your breath. Definitely check the trigger warnings! (Lady the dog is fine). I recommend Compound Fracture, especially if this is a new genre to you as the young adult aspect may help you dive into thrillers.

Compound Fracture was phenomenal! The rich history of West Virginia's working class shines as Miles struggles to finish the blood feud between the Abernathy's and the Davis'. The acknowledgement of older trans ancestors was deeply moving, and at no point did I find any of the world forced or unrealistic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the ARC.

This is Andrew Joseph’s third book and the second I’ve gotten to read so far (sorry The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, I promise I will get to you soon!) and from the moment I first read Hell Followed with Us I immediately knew I would be reading anything else this author publishes, and I most definitely have not come to regret that decision.

Hell Followed With Us was already a fantastic book, but I truly think you can see the author’s growth with every new book he publishes, and I think I must declare Compound Fracture my new favourite.

The book centers around our main character, the 16 year old trans boy Milo, who lives in a small town in rural West Virginia, whose family has a bloody feud with another of the town’s families, which has spanned generations. I personally prefer to go into books knowing as little as possible, so that is as much information as I would recommend knowing beforehand.

This book is overall much less supernatural horror than AJW’s first book, but I think that only makes it better, because there is honestly nothing more horrifying than the power of prejudice and intolerance and what it drives us to do.

As someone who is not American and has often had a honestly rather negative view of Americans in the Southern US, just based on what we get to see on the internet, I found this book incredibly refreshing, the way it portrayed the values of the community there and the culture was really fascinating and lovely to me, and I think it allowed for me to have a better understanding of and greater compassion for that area of the US.

I also adored all the characters, and thought that both the “good” guys and the “bad” guys were treated with equal amounts of care and compassion by the author, allowing for the reader to both understand and empathise with a character’s motives and backgrounds and still dislike their actions.

I also really liked the portrayal of the interpersonal relationships between the characters, especially between Milo and his family, which I found equally realistic and comforting.

Overall I would greatly recommend this book to anyone, especially my fellow queer people, and while this book is certainly very noticeably a YA novel, I do find that even if, like me, you tend to not enjoy that genre, it is MORE than possible to enjoy this work anyway. That being said, AJW, if you ever decided to publish an adult Queer Horror novel I would be in love with you forever.

4.5 stars

Thank you Peachtree and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love watching author’s grow with each book. I love seeing them hone their craft. Compound Fracture is definitely Andrew Joseph White’s best-written book and I’m so excited to see what he does next.

This book is dark and bleak and death and pain and trauma hang over every page. It is not an easy read, but it is a captivating one from start to finish.

There’s so much handled well in this book: disability and disfigurement, gender and sexuality, victims of systemic abuse and never-ending cycles. There was a lot that was messy in this book too, intentionally so, which really gave the story depth and nuance. This could have easily been a clear cut right vs wrong story and I’m glad there were shades of grey amongst it.

The way Miles explains his aversion to being someone’s boyfriend but not knowing how to explain or reconcile the fact that he also wants sex and enjoys the emotional intimacy and companionship just…Was so relatable. I’m also asexual, but I absolutely know how confusing it is to want the closeness and companionship without wanting a romantic relationship. I was sitting here thinking dang this is very aro-coded, and then IT TURNS OUT HE’S LEANING TOWARDS ARO-SPEC and I just did a little happy dance. Aromantic rep is so hard to come by and I just loved this little detail so much.

I definitely recommend this book, though do check the content warnings before you start.

This book wasn't what I was expecting based on the description, however I absolutely loved it. I definitely feel it fell into the more thriller than horror category, which I think is why I found it so different to my expectations, but it still has gory details and supernatural elements.

The story centres around class wars and feuds lasting generations, beginning with coal worker strikes and ending with the main character Miles. It shows how Miles' family and others in the town have been impacted by the fight between the working class and those in power; namely the sheriff. It looks at the way the events of the past have shaped the present, and how long dead people continue to influence those alive today. I'm not American myself, and know very little about Appalachia and the history surrounding the area, but I found this very enlightening and has encouraged me to learn more.

Miles and his family and friends are developing characters throughout the text. Miles doesn't start out immediately knowing who he is, and he learns throughout the novel as he grows into his identity. His family reflect these changes and the challenges that come with realising new things about your self, and the journey of understanding and acceptance. I felt Chapters 35 and 36 really captured the experience of knowing something is true about yourself, and the struggle that comes along with accepting that, especially when you've done everything to counteract it. The understanding that you are allowed to do things and express your needs, regardless of whether they are 'normal'.

The ending was extremely satisfying, and the pacing didn't feel too fast, as White took the time to explore the characters and the consequences of their actions, rather than just jumping from plot point to plot point.

I felt every emotion reading this book, and the relief and pain the characters felt throughout it. The character and their dynamics and how they changed, both in actuality and in our perception of them. Characters die in this book, and they are at times, both a relief, and also an injustice.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind gore. It is a clear love letter to White's hometown and an epic story to boot.

Another absolute banger from AJW. I love his writing style that kept me hook page after page. This book is emotionally heavy which absolutely fits the theme but do be aware. Regardless, Compound Fracture is a wonderfully written books about a generational feud and how everyone is truly a victim of the world around us whether you see it or not.

A new AJW book is always a treat for me. I loved Cooper's character for the first 75% of the book but I was not loving how he kind of went off the rails towards the end. I also recognized how this book in some ways was attempting to represent the South and growing up in the rural South, and that that message was resonating with a lot of people from the North who may not have a lot of experience with the Deep South. As someone who grew up queer in Georgia, I thought that some of these issues were being taken the wrong way. Obviously, this has nothing to do with AJW, but I feel like it's something important to bring up with a book that tackles such complicated issues. There are plenty of people who share my opinion and can express it much more nuancedly than I can. (Also most people from the deep south don't usually count the Virginias as being southern states anyways)

thank you netgalley for providing this arc!

i’ve been approved for every arc of ajw and this is the first to not get 5 stars. i’m not sure if it was because of the character dynamics or just the story itself, but i didn’t connect with it as well as the last two.

HOWEVER, it is still worth your time. a powerful story about political violence and police brutality in a small appalachian town where blood feuds rule miles abernathy’s life. i loved the decent of madness with miles and cooper. i loved the setting and the family being so closely knit together that, no matter what, they were going to stand together.

definitely pick it up at some point. 3/5 stars from me.

Best Andrew Joseph White book so far! I had many issues with his previous two releases but this one felt like a real story that I could not put down. Read this if you want to get into a generational feud with a hefty dose of anti-capitalism and trans excellence.

Non-spoilery highlights:
- the main character, Miles, acts and thinks like an ACTUAL TEENAGER. I could see so much of myself at that age in him. In White's previous books, the teenaged main characters kept acting like adults and that takes one out of a story real quick. Here, Miles fucks up, and second-guesses, and acts heroic while being scared, and has crushes -- the whole package.
- non-cliche parents!!! in YA too often parents are non-existent or fall into the beaten tropes of "cool mom," "nagging dad" and so on. Miles' parents are THERE! And they matter! in! the! story!
- this book touches on a lot of great things, but it's at its best with discussing neurodivergence.

Spoilery highlights:
- White has always been great at gore but this one is *chef's kiss.* When Miles' eye shattered in the last confrontation (compound fracture hehehehe) I flinched.
- the twist with trans elders was great and kept me interested for most of the book. we will never know if Saint Abernathy is actually trans, but his character gave White room to discuss transness in history and the progress made so far. I only wish the ghost did more than just exist tbh.

Non-spoilery issues:
- this book, like the previous two, is still very heavy-handed with themes. There's a lot of talk about capitalism but it's the same talking points repeated multiple times at different parts of the story. Felt a bit like the author was beating me down with "WORKER'S RIGHTS" on every other page.
- the attempt at a written accent that only exists in a speaking form was funny and not believable at all. You can't just replace "doesn't" with "don't" and call that Appalachian accent.

Spoilery issues:
- Cooper's character is so confusing and not in a good way. I did not understand him turning on Miles in the blink of an eye and weaponizing transphobia so easily when he was Miles' entire support system at that point. It came out of nowhere and took me out of the story for at least a chapter.
- How could the sheriff see the ghost out of nowhere? that was waaaay too convenient. The ghost did so little and I was fine with him being just a mental space for Miles to think through the situation. But distracting the main bad guy at the exact right moment and then disappearing? huh? If there was another smaller moment of him manifesting powers earlier in the story, I could be ok with it. But the way the book played out - nah.

Thank you to Netgalley for the E-ARC

Was really excited for this release having read Andrew Joseph White's previous books, and enjoyed them thoroughly.
This lived to and exceeded some of my expectations. Awesome characters, a interesting setting and alot of queer rep. The only thing that made me put the book down for brief moments was the second hand anxiety at the various plots of the characters. Definitely a recommendation if you're looking for something unapologetically queer and neurodivergent.

Wanna preface this review by saying that I'm a big fan of AJW's two other books and I'm so grateful to have experienced Compound Fracture before ir comes out. I'm happy to report this book blew me away. It was so different from what i imagined but also so much better.
I could instantly connect to Miles and feel for him and for what he was going through. Him being the main character of this story made everything better for me, i loved his POV & his internal monologue, it made so much sense of why he was revealing information about himself, his family or the town's history at any moment.
I loved the horror elements, I'm actually not a big horror person but I'll always make room for whatever Andrew Joseph White comes out with even if I'm not really into the premise.

I can't really personally speak about the setting bc I'm not from the US nor do i know the whole history of the Appalachian region, but i do relate to their struggles and have seen similar things being told from people around me even with an ocean apart.

The funny thing ;to me, if that after finishing reading this book, i feel hopeful. I don't know if it'll make sense if you read it or anything like that, but i feel a bit understood by the characters.


Definitely recommend checking out Compound Fracture when it comes out on 3rd.

Andrew Joseph White, you have officially become an auto-buy author with this one. After being incredible impressed with the emotional weight and atmosphere of White’s “The Spirit Bares Its Teeth” I jumped at the chance to read this one early on NetGalley. And I absolutely ripped through it. This follows teen, Miles, as he reckons with a generational rivalry with the town sheriff, his complicated family history, and his newly discovered transness in the depths of Appalachia. After surviving an attempted murder, he begins to see the ghost of ancestor, leading him down a path of discovery and igniting the fire of resistance as he seeks his own justice. This is an incredible book, with queer and autistic representation and a fully formed cast of characters that will win or break your heart. Also the author says it on Goodreads, so yes never fear the dog is fine. I really adored this story, and I found myself so impressed (as I am with all of White’s books) with the darkness and light he can balance within his plots, especially for young adult books. This handles a lot of heavy themes and does so brilliantly.

My review is will post on my instagram @boozehoundbookclub