I felt Benji's bravery in the face of fear in Hell Followed With Us, Silas' determination in the face of hopelessness in The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, and now Miles' anger in the face of adversity in Compound Fracture. Although not a trilogy, these books line up in my mind as just the sort to reach for when I want to feel a story pierce through me.

I wasn't a fan of stories that dipped into horror and violence, as many works approach the ideas in an exploitative way. But White has managed to pull me into harrowing situations by the strength of his writing and the characters he creates. His work has made me a fan of uncomfortable reading and I appreciate that, while at the same time it is frustrating - it's often hard to find writers who pull out genuine, often ugly but very visceral, emotions like this.

I received a digital ARC of the ebook through Netgalley. I may update this review in the future because I pre-ordered the audiobook version after enjoying my first read and plan to enjoy that as well.

4.5 stars! the autism rep was amazing and hit very close to home. i don´t think i've ever seen this many of my own autistic traits in a book before

read hell followed with us by Andrew Joseph White not long before this was available and i was unbelievably happy to see that i was approved for this work of art! he has easily become one of my favorite authors and anything by him is now a automatically added to my tbr!

this book is the very definition of a page-turner, i found every last second that i could to fit in as much reading as possible once i started. the characters are extremely complex and so real that i had to remind myself multiple times that it wasn't, i can only assume that has so much to do with the characters being partially based on the authors real family members, which made it even more touching. my heart ached for certain characters, even the ones that i found myself struggling to like at times. if there's one thing A.J White knows, it's queer representation; it's never overdone and every detail is so well thought out and rounds out the story perfectly. i knew going into it that it'd be intense but what i didn't see coming was the fact that it made me bawl like a baby multiple times. there's so much focus on the power of family having each others back, while adding in the element of what it means to really come together and be a community. I'm usually not one for political thrillers but i'm so glad the mention of some politics didn't scare me away, because i have absolutely zero complaints for the whole entire book and it's hands down going to be one of my favorite recommendations moving forward!! i feel like i can't say enough kind words about this so i'll just keep it at that (for now).
*huge thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!!*

Thank you PeachTree Teen for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!!

*slight spoilers*

3.75 ⭐️

I read The Spirit Bares it’s Teeth last year and it was a five star read for me, so you can imagine how stoked I was to get approved for an e-arc of this book.

Let’s start with the positives:

I absolutely love how AJW wrote about Appalachia and, as a Floridian, I deeply related to having a love of the place you grew up and trying your reconcile that with the absolute shit politics.

I also loved Miles and Dallas and watching their relationship grow and the contrast to the relationship Miles has with Connor.

Something else I appreciated about this book was the representation of not only the socialist blue collar workers of the past, but also Miles’s great-great grandfather being trans, because trans people have always existed. Though not super prominent, the conversation around self-diagnosis was also much appreciated.

Lastly, Lady is the goodest girl.

With that being said, I had a few issues with the book. One is that at times it felt like very little was happening. If you are looking for a super action packed book, I wouldn’t reach for this one. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments that had my heart beating hard as hell, but I was just expecting more. The ending also felt rushed to me, you weren’t given time to feel the gravity of the situation or mourn

Ultimately, it is not a bad book and AJW is a very talented author. I think part of the reason it didn’t meat my expectations is because I thought it would be horror but to me, it was giving more thriller which is never really my thing. If you’re interested in this book for the setting and the characters, I still recommend picking it up. If you’re looking for something fast paced and mind blowing, I fear this may not be the time to pick this book up.

I have been so lucky to be able to read the last two of AJ white’s books through Netgalley, and the second I see his name on a book I put it on my tbr list. This author simply DOES NOT MISS and I need MORE.

I can never write a proper review when it comes to AJ white’s books because every chapter takes my breath away and leaves me speechless, and this goes for Compound Fracture as well.

Thank you (so, so much) to Netgalley and the publisher (for letting me read this masterpiece)

Appalachia is having a moment in the culture right now, and this genuinely suspenseful thriller will appeal to teens. A definite purchase.

i wanted to like it i really did, ajw's first 2 books were amazing, the spirit bares its teeth was a downright masterpiece in my opinion so i was really hoping this is would follow suit and yet it didn't. i should've known from the beginning that a book about the rural south would not be my cup of tea, and yet i still wished this would be different... it wasn't. it's on me 😞🤚

Miles Abernathy is a trans teenager just trying to survive a blood feud that's lasted for decades with the sheriff's family. It's going to be a rough summer.

After reading Andrew's other novel Hell Followed with Us, I knew from the description and the draft letter from the author that this would likely be a rough ride, and it was. Miles and company really go through the grinder and this is not for the squeamish, so please heed the description and any content warnings. That said, there's trans, autism, queer, and aromantic representation here. It's definitely political (a main antagonist is the sheriff). There's community and support of the main character, so while things get heavy, they still have support.

Thank you to Holiday House/Peach Tree/Pixel+Ink for an ARC on NetGalley. All opinions are my own. I'll be posting to Instagram closer to the pub date.

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for sending me an early copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

Where do I start with the beauty of this book? How do I talk about something that can make a person so wholly uncomfortable while also showing you pieces of yourself at every turn? How do you even begin to speak to the depth of something so vulnerable and raw?

I'll start with the parts that drew me to this book and then ended up revealing pieces of myself I didn't even know I had. The rural South gets such a bad name for so many reason (some right, some wrong), but there is so much beauty to it and the community, and White does a stunning job of bringing that to light. Finding pieces of myself from the fear of becoming addicted to painkillers because you've seen what that does to your community to the stubborn refusal to give up on a community that has your heart, I really resonated with the love for Appalachia despite (or sometimes because of) all the pain.

Then there's the depth of the trans and autism representation. Miles goes on a journey of self-discovery in a myriad of ways through this story, and I found a profound beauty in each of them. He realizes that he's continuing to learn about himself while also fighting for who he already knows he is and watching him grow into that is spectacular.

This is a book that will make people uncomfortable. It's a book that will ruffle some feathers. Just like Miles. Just like Saint. And I can't wait to see the mark it leaves.

I immediately requested this book after reading and loving Andrew Joseph White's previous book The Spirit Bares Its Teeth.

Compound Fracture solidified Andrew Joseph White as an author I will have an eye on. His writing style definitely hits and I love that he is pushing inclusive messages through tough mystery/horror stories. A lot of what happens here is very hard to read but also brings to light a lot of the political climate. It seems he is always adding a splash of something spooky/paranormal to spice up a story as well!

Our main character Miles is met with some horrific circumstances while coming out but also, I think, surprised by where his support comes from.

Definitely go into their work prepared to read tough topics but also hear extremely compelling stories! I'll be back for more of their books.

Thanks to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for the advance copy. Coming out 9/3/24!

I haven't cried this hard at a horror novel in a while. Miles's grapplings with identity and community hit VERY close to home and I felt incredibly seen and validated. I loved the generational-trauma-as-apparition situation and appreciated how multifaceted and complex the characters were, even the antagonists. And in case you're worried - the dog survives and is a very good girl.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will preface this review by saying that I did love the book, and the only major flaws I have are the fact that I prefer the author’s horror works as they’re a genre and subject matter that speaks more to me. I loved Hell Followed With Us and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth so much that anything else pales in comparison.

Compound Fracture is a book about a teenager who survived an attempted murder with the help of an ancestor who died in the West Virginia coal wars, only to get drawn into a struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them. It is the story of a century-long blood feud and how people are moved to violence when facing extreme hopelessness in working class Appalachia, told through a trans and autistic viewpoint. This book reads so clearly as a love letter to the region and the working class and not wanting to leave your hometown, even if it almost kills you because it’s still yours. The author masterfully weaves in the perspective of both the oppressed and the oppressors in this town, and the reader soon realises that desperate times and desperate measures mean that the lines are often blurry between the two.

As always, the author’s representation of trans and autistic perspectives is incredibly important to me, and he usually centres topics that I care about. However, in this book more than his others, I felt the storytelling focused more on being morally correct and woke than being interesting and complex. Some scenes rely on telling over showing and made me feel a little detached from the story. There are also many moments when Miles must always be in the right, no matter the circumstance. The book is written through first-person narration, and his internal monologue portrays him as correct in any situation. For example, he always finds a way to justify planning and committing murders. I’m not overly fond of books that moralise minority voices to this extent.

I think my main flaw in this book was the pacing. The bulk of the story moves slowly due to it being dedicated to characters standing around having conversations (which often does work when those conversations are furthering the storyline, but not when it feels like the characters are having slight variations in the same conversations over and over again), a small part is dedicated to watching the main antagonist act as what I perceive to be a caricature of a cartoon villain, and an even smaller part focused on what drew me to the book in the first place: turning the tide of the blood feud. A part that stands out to me is a high-tension scene where the author dedicated multiple pages to the protagonist monologuing about the book’s thesis statement in the middle of a character being shot. The story grinds to a halt for many moments and this change of topic mid-scene threw me out of the story, and this recurring lack of urgency made me stop reading and take a break several times.

One of my favourite small parts of this book is how the author presents a main character with parents who don’t understand them, but they’re trying. They don’t understand their son’s desire to transition, and they misgender and deadname him constantly, but the moment his safety is threatened, they’ll support him no matter the cost. Additionally, I did enjoy Miles’ journey to autism acceptance, and how signs of his parents having similar undiagnosed traits were continually shown. This was one thing they really did understand and accept about Miles unconditionally. The autism representation was very well done and oddly reminiscent of my own experience, to the point where it felt like I was reading about myself during some scenes. In my opinion, the relationship between Miles and his parents (even outside of the autism acceptance) was the most intriguing and developed in the book. As this is a book with strong family themes, I do wish they appeared more often on the page as Miles spends a lot of his time with his boyfriend or his former childhood best friend.

Overall, this book is about the importance of community and forcibly carving out a space for yourself to exist in inhospitable conditions, and that almost overshadows the fact that everything I liked about the book also comes with a negative. The story is unsettling and heartbreaking, but the thread of hope woven throughout is evident.

It's difficult to write about this book in full sentences as opposed to incoherent screaming. Andrew Joseph White is the master of trans, queer, autistic rage at the world and at systems of oppression. This book isn't set in an obvious dystopia like Hell Follows With Us, and that makes it all the more jarring. This is supposed to be our reality, but I'd like to believe it doesn't quite get THIS dark, at least in the present time. (Then again, I know it does.)

Compound Fracture takes place in the post-Trump American South, in a small community that is kept in control and fear by the Sheriff, who can literally get away with murder. The main character, Miles is a sixteen-year-old, autistic trans boy, who is a self-described socialist, and based on how he talks, probably spends 80% of his time reading radical leftist theory. Miles's family, the Abernathys, are sort of social outcasts and also at war with the Sheriff's family for the last hundred years, with a bloody history that involves murders on both sides. Despite all the horrors his family experienced, Miles loves his home and doesn't want to leave it, even as he knows that people like him are either ignored or pitied and thought stupid by Democrats in blue states.

Everyone in this book does horrible things, including the good guys, although to be fair they are desperate and traumatized for the most part. Still, some bad decisions are made, and sometimes this book is like watching a trainwreck play out in real time. There's also lots of body horror and gore, as is expected from this author.

My favorite character was Miles's anarchist nonbinary friend, who is fat and disfigured and just radically and loudly queer. But also, honestly, it sounded really exhausting. These people are all in major survival mode and basically fighting a war for their homes, and it's awful. There is some joy to be found in this book, but it really isn't much.

Miles coming out to his family and it being treated supportively but sort of awkwardly hit a bit close to home, especially since I came out to my parents while reading this, so yeah. But it was great to see a supportive family, and adults who backed up the teens, which is rare in YA.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦.

The patron saint of angry trans teen horror strikes again 🔪🩸

Without a shadow of a doubt my favourite A. J. White novel so far. Autistic, angry, anarchist trans teen confronting generational trauma and struggle in a small town of the Appalachian mountains. I went in this not knowing more than that, and I think everyone should too; to discovthe story as you turn the pages makes the tension run so much higher.
Compound Fracture is an essential book, especially in this day and age, when young people, especially queer, trans and poor ones, might feel lost and scared at the state of the world, faced with governments which don't care about them, their rights, their futures. It's visceral and radical, it grabs you by the throat and makes you look the ugly in the face, but it's also tender and hopeful at times; that's what we need right now.

I cannot recommend this book enough, it should be on everyone's shelf. And it can be on yours as soon as September 3rd! Compound Fracture is a new favourite, and I'm so looking forward to everyone being able to read it. 🩷

Eternally grateful to NetGalley and the Peach Tree Teen team for the e-arc!

i received an e-ARC in return for this review :)

as a trans, autistic gay man, with a special interest in horror, i knew i was going to enjoy this book. and i did!! i most certainly did. i’m typically unable to be completely involved and engaged with politics due to critically high cortisol levels and other mental health, but decided to give this book a try anyways. it was definitely a lot, in every way. it was tense and stressful and sad. but it was also full of queer joy and finding yourself and really sticking it to the man, if you know what i mean. the only reason this is not 5 stars is the animal cruelty, that is always just a notch down for me due to personal issues, especially with the animal incident being brought up many times throughout the book. just not me thing and not something i can deal with. but otherwise, i adored this. i can’t stop thinking about saint and i fear that when i legally change my name i may have to vice a second middle name of ‘saint,’ if not for what it means in the book itself. i read this book while waiting for 3.5 hours for a chest xray then a 15 minute appointment saying ‘it’s not cancer but it is something, im baffled idk what it is!’ so the rage in my system was already there, this book gave me a proper outlet for it haha

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc! This review is my complete honest opinion.

Compound Fracture follows Miles Abernathy trying to carve out space for himself, his family, and his friends in the aftermath of his attempted murder. The town of Twist Creek— and particularly, its Sheriff— isn’t friendly to anyone who sticks out from the status quo, but Miles plans to strike back and stay alive.

I enjoyed Andrew Joseph White’s other two books better than this one, but this was still a strong follow up. The best part of this book for me was the characters. Miles and his community feel so real in the best and most uncomfortable ways. Of course, the villainy of the antagonists are played up for the entertainment value, but the core of every character is so accurate to American small towns. The town is almost a character in itself, which was also enjoyable to read about. The first two parts of the book kept the intrigue high and kept me reading until the last page.

Some things people may not like were how overt conversations about politics and identity were. This book has even more of that than Hell Followed with Us, for example. Miles is still finding himself, and I think those conversations would be interesting and useful for young people figuring things out for themselves, but others who are more informed about gender, sexuality, and neurodivergence might find them tedious. The characters politics are very in your face in a way that might scare more conservative readers away. I think your milage might vary on those topics, but they provided a nice texture to the novel and charcacters that made them uniquely themselves.

My actual nitpicks of the novel would be that Miles didn’t really have an arc around his opinions on using violence against violent oppressors— I didn’t care which way he went on that issue but I wish that it had more clear movement. I also felt their was a relationship at the end of the book that felt like it came from nowhere.

The ending didn’t hit for me like the rest of the book and like White’s previous novels, but I still thought it was a solid read. The most important thing is that Compound Fracture is compelling and informative enough to make a difference in teen’s lives, which I think is pretty great.

Wtf did I just read? It was almost impossible to put this book down. I'd make it to the end of a chapter to only end up at some kind of fucked up cliff-hanger. Don't get me wrong, I loved every minute of it. Hurt me more, please, thank you.

Compared to Andrew’s previous books this one is definitely a thriller but with just as much body horror and blood.

Asking me to pick a favourite is like asking me to choose between my cats. I can’t wait to read his adult book if this is what he intends for a younger audience.

eARC provided by Peachtree Teen via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

When one of my Booksta friends posted a review of this ARC, I was so intrigued that I ran to Netgalley to request a copy. I'm so glad I did. This is one of the best books I've read this year.

Sixteen-year-old socialist Miles Abernathy sneaks out to a party on the night he comes out as trans to his parents. He carries proof that Twist Creek County's Sheriff Davies caused the "accident" that injured Miles' dad, killed others, and stopped efforts to unseat Davies. When Davies' son finds out Miles has evidence, Miles is pulled into a century old feud that began when great-great-grandfather Saint Abernathy incited a miners' rebellion that led to a public execution by law enforcement.

Miles' story takes place in 2017 West Virginia, which had the highest percentage of trans youth than any other state that year. Miles isn't the only trans character. Also, in 2017, Trump is sworn in as president. W.V. is a deep red state, but Miles comes from a long line of leftists who put their lives at risk opposing powers that exploit the poor, so he makes it a point to add that not all West Virginians are the same. Despite the Trump/Pence banners in Twist Creek, many residents are ready for an upheaval.

This isn't a tale of revenge. This is about a people's fight against an oppressive sheriff with the help of a young man, who must lean on the strengths of his autism and the guidance of a dead miner's spirit, to put an end to a cycle of cruelty and pain.

I loved that White doesn't shy away from politics and touches on W.V.'s opioid problem, and I was pleasantly surprised by the gore, which gives this read an edge. Miles is unapologetic and doesn't take himself seriously, but he has this urge to defend his family and community. He's the hero I didn't know I needed.

Get this book when it drops on September 3rd, and thank me later.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for this anazing read.

TW: murder, graphic violence, animal harm, opioid dependency, transphobia

Thank you to Peachtree Teen and NetGalley for the e-ARC! Spoilers ahead.

I think how long it has taken me to finally write a review for this one is a good indicator of how complicated my feelings about Compound Fracture are. I've been a huge AJW fan for the past couple of years, and was so incredibly excited to be approved for an ARC of this one but it just...didn't live up to the love I have for his other titles.

Compound Fracture feels so different from White's other books. As always, our protagonist is a trans teenager, and as always, a POV character is autistic. One thing I really appreciate about White's dedication to writing trans & autistic characters is how varied his representation is. His autistic characters always have different stims and varying autistic traits, and I love how that influences their characters and the world they occupy (i.e. Silas' surgery special interest, the way Nick will only allow certain safe people around when he stims or is overwhelmed, and how that impacts the group's perception of him).

Maybe it's that this book is so contemporary and grounded in our current world, with notably less supernatural elements than I'm used to, but something about this made it feel so different from the AJW style I'm used to. Every time Miles Googled something on his phone I got jump-scared.

The elements of Appalachian history and Miles' interest in the mining strikes in his community are well-woven throughout and add necessary flavour. Saint Abernathy's ghost is interesting and eerie in his own right, but doesn't do much to advance the plot until the Deus Ex Machina end (don't get me wrong: Good for Him but it was just too convenient after Saint had so little physicality throughout). However, we have less information about the history of the family feud than we should. The mining strikes aspect of it makes sense, but why is the feud centred around Cooper and Dallas' families as well? How are they woven into this when everything we know about the violence between the Davies' and the mining families surrounds the Abernathys?

The revenge-killing plotline was the best part of this book. Cooper's reaction to Miles calling him after accidentally causing the death of Eddie is so interesting, and I appreciate the complex morality at play here. Cooper as a character overall and his form of vigilante justice is so compelling, and the dynamic between him and Miles under the weight of their shared history, their different attitudes toward seeking justice, and the "romantic" subplot that develops between them carries this book.

Until that subplot is dropped entirely.

The biggest issue I have with Compound Fracture is the pacing. It's very stop-start: blasting off right into the action, maintaining tension through Miles' initial scenes in the hospital, meandering through his recovery, picking back up with the death of Eddie and the Cooper-Miles revenge spree, and then just sort of...screeching to slowness before sprinting to the finish line. There were scenes that while thematically relevant, particularly in terms of Miles' emotional journey and relationship with his family, veered away from the forward momentum of this book. I wouldn't necessarily say that Compound Fracture felt like it was trying to do too much, but it did feel distracted.

Cooper's utter 180 also felt rather underdeveloped. While his turn to instability and away from Miles did make sense, the buildup was lacking. It felt like the character we had spent the entire novel with had turned into someone else, rather than feeling like Cooper degenerated. The vitriol was just a little cartoonish, a little too Noah-esque.

The jump-ahead epilogue's issues are also symptomatic of the pacing and lacking character development. The developing QPR between Miles and Dallas felt tacked on for a "happily ever after"; I can buy into it based on their interactions, but the lack of actual development made it so unsatisfying.

I still adore AJW and will still buy everything he writes, but I hope some of these things are further developed for the version hitting the shelves next month. Sadly a 3.5 for me.

Consider me FRACTURED after devouring this book, because it is AMAZING!

Andrew Joseph White is an exceptional author and his talent is undeniable. His three books have showcased a talent for building vicious emotions within me. Then by the end of the story he has directed this anger somewhere it is needed and it winds up being a cathartic release. It's free therapy for directing my queer rage, so I honestly should just be paying him by the hour at this point.

Compound Fracture is a story set in Appalachia, where Miles, our trans main character, comes out, but then in a rapid turn of events, ends up savagely beaten by the town's bullies. Miles happens to be on the wrong side of a century-old feud. Their ancestor was famously pro-union when the mines ruled the county. However, just like their ancestor, Miles has had it with the current way the town is being run, by fear and threats of violence by the Sheriff. Violence strikes when events are set in motion for Miles to team up with other town members to fight back against the monsters.

When I tell you that this story will haunt me for the rest of this year, I am not exaggerating. This is truly EXCELLENCE in writing. Compound Fracture is brutal and violent and visceral and gory and horrible and BEAUTIFUL! It is exactly what you want when Andrew Joseph White tells a story. Our main character is such a beautiful soul and felt so realistic. I felt every ounce of violence exhibited against them and it made me feel beaten by the end of this story. The supporting characters here also make this story so enjoyable.

There were so many parts of this story that had my heart RACING! The action kept me on my toes and I never knew what was coming next. There was one particular moment that had my jaw on the FLOOR. (iykyk). The pacing was quick and I could not put this down. I just had to keep reading to find out what happens. When you sprinkle in the hint of paranormal which is common for AJW, then you will love the twist that comes along with it.

RUN, don't walk to get your copy of this book! You will NOT regret it. It is queer excellence in writing!