Just A Small Town by Paul Linggood (Review)

Just A Small Town by Paul Linggood

Format: Paperback

Source: Sent to me by author

Publisher: Hookline Books

Publication Date: 8th September 2020

Synopsis/Blurb (Taken from Goodreads):

“A small town that could be anywhere: industry in decline, streets in decay, many have left, while those left behind take short-term joy in drugs.

Four young people are among the left behind.

Alex consumes heroin to escape his abusive father. Jim hides from guilt after the death of the friend he didn’t save. Chelsi’s brother killed a local boy, and ostracism pushes her towards a rival gang, prostitution and loneliness. Danny is a hustler but needs protection from the drug gang that supplies him.

Can any of them survive the addiction, gang life, isolation and manipulation?

Their small town could be anywhere.”

My Thoughts & Review

Just A Small Town is a quick read which is just under 170 pages that will suck you into the world of drugs and gangs. Once you’ve finished you won’t be able to stop thinking about the characters and their fate.

This is a well written book with some great characters. Each chapter starts with a different character but as their story unwinds their live come together, some for the better and some not. The characters are well developed and felt very real. There are some that you really feel for and hope they will better their life as the years go on, but there are also a couple that wish didn’t exist. When you read this one you’ll know exactly what I mean.

My only criticism of this book was the changes in characters names. At the start of the book some of the characters are given one name but as the book progresses the names seem to change. At first I thought they were new characters but they’re not. This was a little confusing. Also, there was a big time gap which throw me a bit as one minute some of the characters were teenagers and then the next they were adults. I think if the book was a little longer this would have been less noticeable.

All in all, a great read that I would highly recommend.

A big thank you to Paul for sending me a physical copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Trigger Warning: Drugs, Drug use, Addiction, Gangs, Stabbing

My Rating