I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'll start with what I didn't like so I can end this review in a positive light. I came into this aware that the book started out slowly, which is true. There was a lot of telling vs showing--the author gave us an idea of how we were supposed to feel rather than letting us feel it for ourselves. The dialogue tags, especially, had that effect. For example, 'His voice trembled slightly as he spoke, conveying the anxiety that was consuming him.' If the author, and maybe some beta readers, were to comb through the book and eliminate or alter most of the dialogue tags, the story would flow a lot more smoothly. There were also hardly any strong female characters. I started pretending Marian was a woman, otherwise it seemed like such a huge amount of male characters with similar personalities, it was difficult to tell them apart. Also, the antagonist's motivations didn't seem all that realistic in my opinion. He only wanted to bully the protagonist and put him in his place, but his methods of doing so were as extreme as could be. I felt like there should have been more to it than that, like Matt having unintentionally (or intentionally) screwed him over in some way to cause such hatred. At least the antagonist's family members and friends tried to talk some sense into him rather than just going along with it.
What I enjoyed about the story was the protagonist, Matt, who had a lot of redeeming qualities and some flaws as well, making him both relatable and believable. His grief seemed realistic too. The ending was rather unexpected--it wasn't as cliche as other action books I've read and left us with both a resolution and a cliffhanger. I hope the author continues to write because they have potential, and perhaps by the time you're reading this, they've released a new edition.