The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill

The Mostly True Story of Jack

Kelly Barnhill

Length of book: 319 pages

Rating: 6/10

The book I read this quarter was one that I would not normally pick up and read but I decided to get out of my comfort zone and read it. This book is about a boy named Jack who was an outsider in San Francisco California. He lives with his parents who do not pay any attention to him until they get divorced and he is forced to go to Hazelwood Iowa.

In Iowa, Jack stays with his crazy uncle and aunt. In California he was used to feeling alone and almost invisible but in Iowa it was a different story. There is a bully in town that picks on Jack and he doesn’t know how to deal with the attention. It is a good thing that he made friends with Mary, Jack, Wendy, Anders and Frankie. There is also another secret, some people know Jack and want to kill him. Jack looks into the town’s past and looks in to the mystery behind why children have been disappearing there for decades and what his connection may be. He finds a book called “The Secret History of Hazelwood” that solves some of his answers.

I gave this book a 6/10 because I was so confused during most of it. The author really makes you think and makes you figure out things on your own. I did feel bad for Jack because he did feel invisible but I think everyone has felt that way in some point in his or her lifetime.

I learned that you can’t always trust your friends because in this book some of the friends he make are his enemies. It also brought up one of the quotes I live by, "everything happens for a reason" because in this book everything ties into each other and makes his parents divorce a good and bad experience for Jack.

Overall, this book was interesting and it kept me hooked. I would recommend this to people who are into those dark mystery books that unravel secrets.