Book Review: Boys with Sharp Teeth by J.A. Moore
When I first laid eyes on the cover of Boys with Sharp Teeth, I was completely spellbound. The visual allure promised an intriguing dive into a suspenseful and possibly dark narrative, and I couldn’t resist pouncing on the digital ARC that popped up on my radar. Sadly, what I hoped would be a thrilling ride ended up feeling disjointed and predictable—like a thrilling theme park ride that just doesn’t quite leave the ground.
The story centers around Jamie, who enters a prestigious boarding school with a singular goal: to prove her cousin Sam’s death was a homicide and not just a tragic slip into the world of drugs. With a fake identity, a forged transcript, and an astounding amount of luck, she begins her quest. While the premise teetered on the edge of compelling, the execution felt, quite frankly, unrealistic. Does a school really take a $23,000 check without so much as a raised eyebrow? As Jamie navigates her new environment, I found myself grappling with the implausibility of her circumstances, from rampant underage drinking to a student body that felt almost non-existent—seriously, did only ten kids actually attend this school?
Jamie’s interactions with the main suspects—Adrian, Herny, and Baz—were drawn in such stark outlines that I often felt like they’d walked straight out of a cliché. Instead of experiencing a vibrant tapestry of relationships, I was left with a few one-dimensional characters. Jamie seems constantly torn between finding closure for Sam and developing feelings for these guys, yet she does little to actually deepen our understanding of their dynamics. This conflict, which could have offered rich thematic exploration, instead felt stunted and neglected.
The pacing, too, was an issue. The supernatural element, when it finally arrives, felt like a last-minute twist that rushed through and left more questions than answers. It took ages to unpack the enigma of the mirrors and what lurked behind them, leading to an ending that felt more jumbled than satisfying. My patience waned as I sifted through 400 pages, waiting for a revelation that was delivered at breakneck speed. Boys with Sharp Teeth should have definitely aimed for more brevity; about 250 pages would’ve sufficed.
One of the points where I felt the authors missed the mark was in Jamie’s correspondence with an unknown entity in the margins of a library book. Initially intriguing, it quickly became predictable—almost painfully so. Every hint that it was Herny only led to an inevitable resolution that left me rolling my eyes. The narrative told more than it showed, leading to an experience that continually overshot opportunities for suspense.
And then there’s the ending: it flips a switch that asks us to buy into things that simply don’t align with the progression of the story. Jamie’s final choices felt disjointed and left me with questions rather than closure—she kills Adrian but then, just as quickly, finds herself chatting away in a strange mirror world? It felt disconcerting, like a loose thread in an otherwise tangled story.
Though I wanted so much more from this novel, I can see it resonating with younger readers who enjoy a mix of mystery and light supernatural elements, particularly those who appreciate a blend of self-discovery and intrigue. If you’re looking for a dark boarding school story with depth, you might want to look elsewhere. For me, this was a miss, yet it sparked my curiosity about where the author might go next—perhaps a story with sharper, more engaging edges.
In the end, Boys with Sharp Teeth felt like a missed opportunity, but I’ll always cherish the excitement that the cover ignited in me. If you’ve read it too, I’d love to hear your thoughts—did you find that it lived up to its potential, or did you feel a similar letdown?