Boy Released by J.D. Spero
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

J.D. Spero brings the Trout family back with her newest novel in the series, “ Boy Released”, which takes place ten years after “Boy on Hold”.

Ten years after the tragedy that changed her life forever, Marcella and Bernie are now owners and proprietors of the Blue Palms Motel, a motel set in the Adirondack Mountains. Hen is now seventeen and preparing for his future, suffering through all the trials and tribulations that adolescence brings. Tyler, after serving his sentence in a psychiatric facility for the murder of his former neighbour Sally, has returned to live under his mother’s supervision. When Marcella is brutally attacked in the motel office one night, and Tyler admits responsibility, the Trout family is again under the legal spotlight, faced to confront Tyler’s psychiatric demons once more.

Spero’s recently published second novel in this series is just as gripping and emotionally unsettling as the first. In “Boy Released”, Tyler is now trying to cope with life outside of an institution, under the support and supervision of his family, who are trying to move on from the events of ten years ago. Spero is consistent in detailing Tyler’s struggles with schizophrenia, and the heartbreaking series of events that once again, change his young life.

Of course, Hen is back, although in this book he is a young man, making decisions about his future. Although he is a teenager, Hen is still as likable and charming as he was in the first novel, and his dedication to his family is honestly portrayed. Marcella and Bernie are now in a romantic relationship, after the events of the last book forced them to see each other in a new light, but their pairing only makes me like them more. When the final twist at the end is revealed, and a character from the past returns, it was unexpected and satisfying.

Most of the chapters in this novel, especially the ones being narrated from Tyler’s perspective, are told through broken and choppy sentences, which pulled at my inner “grammar nerd”, but I enjoyed how Spero told the story from the viewpoint of not only Tyler, but Marcella and Derek, too. These narrations by minor players helped to piece together the plot.

Spero brings a delightful end to her “Boy” series with “Boy Released”, while still highlighting the tragedy that mental illness (in this case, schizophrenia) can bring to a family. The Trout family are an adorably enjoyable group, and I loved watching them grow together throughout this series.