Nocturnal Meetings of the Misplaced

By: R.J. Garcia

Narrated by: Lance Irvine

Mystery surrounds the town of Summertime, Indiana, where 15-year-old Tommy Walker and his little sister are sent to live with relatives they’ve never met. Tommy soon makes friends with Finn Wilds, a rebellious local who lives with his volatile and abusive stepfather, who also happens to be the town’s sheriff.

Finn invites Tommy to late night meetings in the woods, where Tommy gets to know two girls. He forms a special and unique connection with both girls. The meetings become a place where the kids, who don’t fit in at school, or home, can finally belong. As the group of friends begins to unravel clues to a cold case murder and kidnapping - they learn the truth is darker and closer than they ever imagined. Even if they live to tell, will anyone believe them?

©2018 R.J. Garcia (P)2018 Shayne Leighton

Filled with Suspense

I received an Audible code for the audiobook for an honest review. What follows is my opinion and mine alone. There was no compensation for this review.Nocturnal Meetings of the Misplaced by R.J. Garcia is a contemporary thriler young adult book that centers on some pretty deep topics. There is child abuse, sexual abuse, murder, drug abuse, and the foster care system. It is written with the alternating viewpoints of Tommy and Finn, two young men who become fast friends and bond over their own lives and the mystery circling a young girl.The book itself is fairly slow moving. Not a bad slow. More like a slow burn of suspense. I found myself looking at every adult and wondering which one was the real antagonist. Everyone looked shady.The chapters themselves are short but each one is just a step closer to the revelation. You begin to wonder just what is happening. Are these teens getting into trouble because of their imagination? Is there something really going on?And I'll tell you, I was not expecting what happened.As for the audio part, I felt the narrator was a good match. I think I would have liked it a bit better if Finn and Tommy's narrations had a bit more separation but the chapters do indicate who is talking.All in all, Garcia weaved a great mystery that deals with multiple issues. It felt like a modern YA southern gothic with the layers on layers of intrigue and suspense. I definitely recommend for the YA thriller or darker contemporary reader.Final Rating: 4/5

Nocturnal Meetings of the Misplaced Review

I must admit that I went into this book a little blind and based solely off the title. I didn't read the synopsis and I was pleasantly surprised with how this turned out in the end. Tommy and his sister are "orphaned" to their Aunt's house as their mother goes through rehab. As they adjust to a new school and a new group of friends the reader gets a taste of the odd happenings and history of Summertime. Missing girls, mysterious deaths, sinister cops and kidnappings are just a few checks on the list of intrigue for this novel.

The beginning of the novel was slow for me and ebbs into the sibling's acclimation into Summertime. We meet Finn, who is the second POV in the novel and has his own dark family situation. The reader also gets to know Annie and Silence and their individual parts to the plot that they play. It took me a moment to adjust to the narration. The inflection of words and cadence of the reading was choppy at times. By the middle I grew accustomed to Irvine's narration style and was able to connect more with the story and characters.

There is a lot of middlegrade and highschool vibes to this read. The social structures, fitting in, and crushes between protagonists are very prevalent and the beginning of the book is mostly surrounding these aspects. However, these themes are also tied into dealing with hard situations like family alcoholism, death, sexual abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, being a kidnap victim and racism. I can see why the author chose to include the chapters dedicated to this plot growth. Once the pieces fall into place the intrigue picks up and I found myself captivated and shocked at the spin. Truly did not see that ending coming the way that it did.

Overall, this was enjoyable and I finished this in less than a day. If you like young sleuths who unravel shocking mysteries than I recommend this one. Take note of the mentioned situations above for trigger warnings.

So Close

This was almost great. A few plot holes, but overall a good mystery and coming of age story . But there were some editing problems---names and ages getting mixed up, etc. The biggest problems were technical. My audio book was missing a crucial chapter or two and the narrator had a weird rhythm, emphasizing words for no logical reason. I will read something else by this author though. The story was worth the aggravation.

Very fast pace

The narration of the book was amazing. Very well done and lots of great emotions felt with the story. Fast pace easy to list to and I hope these is more in this series.
Very moving story with tons of depth and excitement along the way. If you haven't read or listen to this amazing story get your copy today. You'll be on the edge of your seat with excitement.