About the Book
If you could test your son for a gene that predicts violence, would you do it? From the author of Curfew comes a suspenseful, heart-wrenching novel about the consequences of your answer.
Antonia and Bea are sisters, and doting mothers to their sons. But that is where their similarities end.
Antonia had her son tested to make sure he didn’t possess the “violent” M gene.
Bea refuses to let her son take the test. She believes his life should not be determined by a positive or negative result.
These women will go to any length to protect their sons.
But one of them is hiding a monster.
My Review
I have read from Jayne Cowie in the past and the worlds she creates for her stories are so intriguing. While they might seem a little out there … are they that far off? In One of the Boys, a world exists where young boys can be tested for the M gene – to show if they are more prone to violence. Not only are parents faced with the question of should they test their sons, but what happens when they test positive? Do they medicate them? Have playdates or keep them isolated? Have to attend schools with only other M positive boys? We follow sisters Antonia and Bea, and their sons who are only months apart. Antonia tested her son and works with her husband at a clinic that helps M positive boys have access to help and medication. Bea refused to test her son yet still sees how being untested gives him a shadow of a doubt – to others, her, and also to himself. But everything will change when the cousins come together with a plan…and dark secrets will be uncovered.
This book is the definition of twisty. Until the very end I didn’t think I had a handle on any of the characters and what they might do. From the boys to the sisters to the men in their lives, everyone seemed to have an ulterior motive and when it comes to best intentions – not really a thing for most of these characters. This book really makes you think – what would you do as a parent? What would you do if you had a M-positive boy? It’s a little difficult not to draw a correlation between getting tested for a gene or not and the decision to get a vaccine or not, and the divide that causes a family, a country or even the world. Timely, thought-provoking and controversial at times, this would make an excellent book club pick (just as I said with her novel Curfew) and one that will have you thinking long after you close the final page.
5 stars
