“Dodgers” – Bill Beverly

4 Paws

“Dodgers” by Bill Beverly captivated me. It took me into a different, more dangerous environment that I had never been exposed to or really learned much about. Throughout the entirety of the book, I was on the edge of my seat.

“Dodgers” follows the life of 14-year-old East, a young member of a gang run by his own uncle. He used to run one of the houses, but after disaster strikes his area, he must take on a greater task to show he still could benefit to the gang. He must kill. East and four other young men must assassinate a suspect to their gang’s activity. The story unravels itself and adds an interesting twist to the everyday coming-of-age novel.

Bill Beverly took a tough topic to write about and created a masterpiece. The words flowed very well and included such wonderful descriptions and developments that I could visualize the whole novel. While reading, I felt like I had the opportunity to see a child actually grow into the best person they think they can become. I feel like I saw the pain that comes from a broken household and at times, I imagined I had to experience the same feelings of guilt and confusion as East. Beverly has the fantastic talent of pulling his reader into the book and making them feel like they have entered the novel and experience everything alongside the main characters.

When it came down to it, I only ended up disappointed by the pace of the book. I felt like sometime in the last third of the novel the whole storyline just took a long pause. I tried to trudge through it, but I felt like Beverly just repeated the same, useless information over and over again. This long pause in story development literally put me to sleep. Even though I thought the slow pacing would continue to the very end, the pace finally picked back up after 30 or 40 pages.

Looking back at the novel now, I realize how complex the storyline actually turned out. Beverly explained this whole world of characters that I am completely unfamiliar with in less than 300 pages – something a lot of authors seem incapable of doing. Along with that, I also seemed to grow attached to some of the characters, and I will proudly admit I shed a tear or two when those characters let me down.

In the end, Bill Beverly created a beautiful story out of dry humor and sickening details. I never thought I would pick up a book like “Dodgers.” Now, I am just happy I did not put it down.