Fíona Scarlett

A gritty story set in a rough area of Dublin, Boys Don’t Cry had potential but ultimately didn’t quite deliver. It’s tricky business for an author to create a credible child cancer patient, and Scarlett mostly succeeds with 12-year-old Finn, but I found that the novel’s end edged too close to maudlin. Furthermore, a critical scene late in the book—involving the boy’s elder brother and protector, Joe, who is hovering on the precipice of a life of crime—is sketched in strokes too scant. It left me confused as to what had actually occurred, apart from knowing that someone was dead.

This was a book I wanted to like . . . but couldn’t. Having said this, I’m aware from reviews here and elsewhere that many others take a different view.… (meer)