White Rabbit

This book has content warnings for violence, stabbing, gun violence, murder, attempted murder, drugs, ableist language, homomisia, unhealthy relationships, sexual assault/rape (described but occurred off-page), and a whole lot of blood.This book was definitely a mixed bag for me — there were things that I really liked and things that I truly hated. Starting with the positives, the mystery itself was quite intriguing. It was a gory mess and not light on the descriptions, which as someone who is a fan of horror I enjoyed, and I was genuinely interested in finding out what happened as Rufus and Sebastian untangled the strings to solve the mystery.Another thing I really liked was the queer rep. Rufus is gay and has had to deal with a lot of bullying at school and has lost friends because of it, and with Sebastian we have a Black questioning character who thinks he might be bisexual but isn’t really sure, and I LOVE that he’s still questioning by the end of the book. He still acknowledges his feelings for his ex-girlfriend and he acknowledges his feelings for Rufus, but he still doesn’t know exactly where he fits, and I love seeing that in YA. We need more characters who are still trying to figure themselves out. The relationship between Rufus and Sebastian was less appealing to me — Rufus’s attachment to Sebastian felt unhealthy and Sebastian’s behavior at times was stringing Rufus along, and I did not like that power dynamic. I felt that it was a LITTLE better towards the end of the book, but not much.One other thing I really liked — poverty rep! This book requires a LOT of suspension of disbelief if you’re going to go along with a teenager getting paid by his half-sister’s mom to sidestep the police to solve a murder, but the one thing I did really like about this is that Rufus didn’t downplay how much the fact that his mom needed the money so that they could keep their house factored into his decision to actually do it. He felt so desperate at this point to get the money for his mom that he chose to risk his life to find evidence that April did not murder Fox, and it was kind of heartbreaking. Though the situation otherwise feels kind of ridiculous, this part of the situation rang really true to me.On the negative side of things — I didn’t feel like I actually knew anything about any of the characters, including our main character, Rufus. The focus was primarily on the mystery itself, and while the mystery was intriguing it fell flat in some places because some of our suspects were little more than just names to us. Aside from their relationships with each other and that some of the characters were drug dealers and such, there was very little differentiating one character from another because none of them actually had a distinct personality. This is definitely a book powered by plot rather than character, so if you’re a character-driven reader you’ll probably want to pass on this one.Additionally, the writing style itself didn’t mesh with me — the pacing was off and the book felt much longer than it needed to be, and Rufus would often just freeze the scene to describe a scenario that happened in the past to contextualize things and then restart the scene that was playing again, and this felt really forced and awkward and didn’t fit with what should have been a fast-paced novel. Had this been a screenplay instead of a novel I think this flashback technique would have worked better, but within a novel it felt out of place and really slowed things down. I didn’t want Rufus to stop describing what was happening to infodump details of the past on me — I just wanted to get to the story.Despite the negatives, I still enjoyed this book quite a bit while I was reading it. It’s not one of my favorites, but it was all right. Recommended for those who like plot-driven horrific murder mysteries with little characterization, as long as you don’t mind a bit more of a leisurely pace than you’d expect with this kind of book. If that kind of book isn’t your thing, you might want to consider passing on this one.Final rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Rufus receives an unexpected phone call from his half-sister, April, pleading for his help. Running to assist a sister he doesn't get along with is not what he'd planned for the night. He also hadn't planned on his closeted ex-boyfriend, Sebastian, showing up and wanting to talk to Rufus after weeks of ignoring him. But the night only gets worse when Rufus and Sebastian discover April in a pool of blood with a knife in her hand and her boyfriend's dead body next to her. The night takes a drastic turn as Rufus and Sebastian set out to discover which one of April's snotty, wealthy friends might have set her up for murder.Caleb Roehrig has crafted a well-written, young-adult thriller. A page-turner . . . I definitely kept returning to the book to read on and on. Roehrig does an excellent job of fleshing out the characters—the main character, Rufus, in particular. It was very easy for me to visualize the characters as I read. Although, to a slight fault, none of the characters are very likeable from the get-go. Not even Rufus. It wasn't until about a third of the way into the novel that my "dislike" of Rufus started to soften and veer toward like.The mystery that Rufus and Sebastian attempt to piece together is, at times, confusing. However, all the characters were possibly lying to cover their butts, so it's understandable that the reader might experience some confusion. Still, whenever a new development popped up, I had to think about it even though Rufus seemed to immediately understand and put the pieces together. I suspect that Roehrig outlined the crime and all the character's stories of the night to ensure that all the pieces fit together. In doing so, since it clearly made perfect sense to him, he expected everything to instantly makes sense to the reader.I didn't find any major faults with White Rabbit. By the time I reached the final pages, I really, really liked the novel as a whole. Having not read dozens of current YA novels, I was a bit surprised by the behavior, language, and sexual activities of the teens. It seemed somewhat exaggerated but also alarmingly believable.There were some predictable moments. Some of the narrative was bloated. The climax/reveal/resolution seemed a bit Scoopy-Doo-revelation-like. Yet overall, I enjoyed White Rabbit. This is a novel I will likely read again. 4 stars !!!

I haven’t read a murder mystery in a long while, and I’m so glad this was my jump back into the genre. White Rabbit was a great story with tons of intrigue, mystery, and a lot of “edge of your seat” moments. I loved the main characters, Rufus and Sebastian, and their relationship. Most of all I just loved the writing style. Despite the serious and harrowing nature of the story, the writing made me laugh tons of times. The inner monologue of the main character is hilarious and SO well written. Such a fun read!

I decided to read this again or rather listen to it! This is one of my favorite mysteries and I love that it’s LGBTQ+! I need more LGBTQ+ mysteries! Rufus and Sebastian are the perfect crime solving duo! Mix in Rufus’ complicated family dynamics and it’s got just the right amount as drama as well! Caleb Roehrig’s books are so good! And Michael Crouch really brought Rufus to life for me! Highly recommend reading or listening to this book!

This story of a romance between well-known opposites is brilliantly told and the characters are convincingly real and knowable. It creates a world both familiar and so warm you want to return to it often.