Micheal, (yes, this is how the poor boy's name is spelled or maybe mis-spelled), Tommy, Mixer and Bones are that group of rough-around-the-edges, nothing ever goes right for them, and quite frankly they are all a bit scary type of guys. When Tommy goes missing in the middle of the school day, they assume he got detention...again, but then when their English teacher starts stirring up some seriously intense discussion over the next few days, they start to wonder if Tommy is missing, or something more. Tommy was the one who brought them all together...the common thread. he complimented each of their quirks. It also wasn't necessarily unusual for Tommy to go missing... he's done that before...but what was unusual was that their English teacher, Mr. Haberman, shows up with a suspicious barrel with more than suspicious and unknown contents the same afternoon that Tommy can't be found. The barrel is really heavy. with contents that Mr. Haberman won't reveal. Mr. Haberman starts several really bizarre discussions with them in class about murder, guilt, and accomplices. Mr. Haberman is also gone on the day that the police come by to investigate Tommy's disappearance. The three boys try to piece together what happened to Tommy while skirting around their suspicions. They know that these are very serious accusations, but they can't shake the feeling that something is going on that may not have a good ending for anyone. Gentlemen is a brilliant depiction of teen life, as well as the consequences of rumors and assumptions. It's shocking at times, and really makes you think about how labelling someone can affect them more than you realize. ( )

This is really more a 2.5 star review. It started out slow and Micheal had to detail every waking moment...I ended up skimming over a lot of the descriptives to get to forward action. Micheal and his friends are self-absorbed enough to believe their English teacher killed their friend, and this blinkered vision leads them to take unexpectedly violent action. I didn't really get into Micheal and his friends...they didn't seem that hard, but maybe that was the point, that OK kids can get themselves into deep doo. ( )

I started this book, thinking my 15-year-old son would be drawn to it by the jacket cover. It involves some 10th grade somewhat juvenile delinquents who get in over their heads when one of their friends disappears. In English, the reading of Crime and Punishment takes on new meaning for them as the main character tries to discover what happened to their friend.

I felt the ending was too cliche and pat and I didn't find the conflicts and "mystery" all that intriguing.

I don't think my reluctant reader son would have slogged through this book past the third or fourth chapter. ( )

Fantastic, clean, surprising writing that captures teen relationships and growing up and together and apart. I loved this book, for its amazing premise, but also for the characters and how honestly they were written. My full review is here, on Hot Stuff for Cool People. ( )

very intense, in your face kid, compelling read, somewhat hopeful at the end, really wanted it to be more so ( )