Candy

This book isn't sugarcoated, it isn't oversimplified, and it isn't fake. Joe's almost obsessive attraction to the mysterious, charismatic 'Candy' makes for a page-turning read. It is authentic, everything from Joe's thoughts to the dialogue. I loved that Mr Brooks was able to get down both Joe's civilized and sensitive voice, and then the hard, street dialogue of characters like Iggy. So many authors, when writing a book involving thugs or criminals, make their dialogue so unconvincing. This was so realistic I could imagine being at the next table as Iggy threated Joe by asking, "You like a smile?" A great book about one of London's subcultures.

"Candy", a novel by Kevin Brooks, is quite simply one of the best YA novels I've read in the past few years. The book's subject matter is not exactly joyful; prostitution and drug use and abuse are parts of the plot, but looking past that, the story really is captivating. It starts with the story's protagonist, Joe, getting lost in an underclass neighborhood. He hears a girl shout out at him. He's amazed by her looks, and finds himself fascinated by her. His fascination turns into an attraction, and then his attraction turns into an obsession for this girl named Candy. But, he soon realizes that his love for her can become dangerous. Her world is the complete opposite of his. Turns out, Candy is a prostitute, working for a pimp named Iggy. She works for him to support her Heroin addiction. But Joe still wants to be involved with Candy. But as Joe gets deeper into Candy's world, the road turns dark. His world is turned upside down, and he's forced to make the decision of his life. The characters were pretty well developed in the story. I found myself liking both Joe and Candy rather quickly, and I believe that Kevin Brooks did a great job at bringing Joe and Candy to life, as well as Mike and Gina, who are Joe's sister and boyfriend. The books portrays drug addiction rather realistically, for there are scenes were Candy goes through withdrawals from not using heroin and Brooks doesn't hold back describing what it's like. So I recommend this book to anyone looking to read a good story. The most important thing of all is that it keeps you reading. Pick this book up today.

"Candy," Brooks' fourth compelling novel, portrays the life of a suburaban teenager from the right side of the tracks who unwillingly falls deparately in love with a girl he meets on the streets during a trip to London. However, this girl is no sweet innocent angel. Candy is a prostitute who's addicticted to Heroin, and soon Joe is dragged into her world of desperation. Will a run-in with Candy's pimp become fatal? Or will Joe sacrifice everything to save someone he loves?

Who doesn't crave a piece of sugary goodness every now and then? A morsel of the sweetness can lift our spirits and put a smile on our faces. Joe Beck is obsessed with Candy. But Joe's Candy is not a confection. Candy is a girl. And she is not your average teen. Candy holds secrets and lives a dark world. Little does Joe know, but once he becomes entrapped in Candy's world, his life will never be the same. In the opening pages of CANDY, Joe muses: "It's hard to imagine life before Candy. Sometimes I sit here for hours, staring into the past, trying to remember what it was like, but I never seem to get very far. I just can't see myself without her. About the best I can manage is the last half hour before we met, the last few moments of my pre-Candy existence, when I was still just a boy. I was innocent then." Joe is pretty much what one would call an "average Joe." He's a high school student from the suburbs of London. He's not exceptional at school, but he gets by. Plus, he has his music. Joe plays guitar in a band, The Katies, with some boys from school. They play in clubs, sometimes even in London clubs. Joe's parents are divorced and he lives with his father and older sister, Gina. Joe is still trying to figure out who he is and where he will go in the world. Maybe that's why he is so easily drawn in to Candy. Joe first meets Candy when he goes to London for a doctor's appointment. She's standing outside of a drugstore and she notices him. "Nice hat," she says. Joe is wearing a new wool hat with a star on it. He stands motionless, shocked that this beautiful girl he had been staring at has spoken to him. She disappears as he tries to muster up the nerve to say something in return. Then fate strikes again. Joe runs into the same girl in McDonald's, and she helps him out of an embarrassing situation. As a thank you, Joe buys her a chocolate donut. The girl tells him her name is Candy. Joe and Candy are enjoying their time in McDonald's until a dark shadow is cast over the table. It's a huge guy who sits down between them. He has "the emptiest eyes I've ever seen --- empty of feeling, empty of hearing, empty of everything but himself. His face was a death mask." His name is Iggy, and Candy is obviously very, very afraid. Iggy knows Candy, and he has control over her. She won't look at Joe with Iggy there, and Iggy does not want Joe around. "I see you again," he says, "you'll be smiling to the bone." The first encounter with Candy has been both thrilling and frightening for Joe, but when he finds Candy's phone number slipped into his pocket, he knows that he has to see her again. Kevin Brooks is the critically acclaimed author of MARTYN PIG, KISSING THE RAIN, and LUCAS. His fourth novel, CANDY, is as captivating and entertaining as his previous books. CANDY is a thriller, a romance, and a coming-of-age tale all mixed into one book. Brooks's words are cleverly crafted and make for a haunting story about what happens when an average Joe falls

I will be the first to admit that this book takes an amount of experience to fully understand. If you're too young and haven't experience some of the things in this book, it will be boring, and if you lived the sheltered life then it won't do you much good either. Candy is a book that is written in a format that is not often seen in the literary world. Whereas most novels attempt to make their sentences and paragraphs form pictures that move smoothly in your mind, this one is different. The paragraphs are abrupt and jump quickly, and are purposefully done so, which gives the book a feeling of....well, it's like looking through a window that's so dirty you can't see anything. But there's a hole in the dirt where someone's recently wiped it off with a shirtsleeve. You can only see through that one part of the window. The rest isn't clear. The hole in the window being what the author makes the subject at the time, everything else the adjectives that we assume are true about the subject. A good book in it's own right, it doesn't live up to the generic teen "guy meets girl guy and girl fall in love guy and girl break up weep weep sob sob the end," making itself very unusual and a very enthralling read. It's unique, well-written, and enjoyable. I'd really give it four and a half stars because nothing's perfect, but we can't have everything in life.