Life changes drastically for Shreve when he meets Jack. Well, life started changing when Shreve landed in juvenile detention. But, he feels life in a cell is better than living with his drunk, neglectful mother. One day he's making money selling candy to the other inmates....and the next he's got a new, and very strange, cellmate. Jack not only has 12 fingers .... six on each hand....but he has strange superpowers that seem to manifest themselves when he is angered or threatened. Unfortunately there are some dangerous people who know about Jack and what he can do....and soon the boys will find themselves on the run. But it seems that escaping will be difficult if not impossible, as those chasing after them have powers too.

This is such an action-filled, fun read! I do admit that when I first started reading it, I almost put the book down. I didn't want to read a book about kids who are incarcerated....too difficult for a Mom to read about neglected kids who end up in prison. But the story soon morphed into something entirely different. Then I couldn't put the book down!

I love the strong friendship that grows between Shreve and Jack. And I completely detest the "bad guys'' in this story -- but, I'm supposed to. It's classic good vs evil...with supernatural elements thrown in for good measure.

The Twelve-Fingered Boy is the first book in the Incarcerado Trilogy. I'm definitely going to read the other two books. I have to find out what happens next! :)

John Hornor Jacobs is also the author of The Incorruptibles Trilogy. ( )

fairly good characterization, somewhat relatable characters. Good world-building. Good potential for further development. Somewhat darkly realistic.
may read more by author ( )

This was an excellent book. The characters were interesting, the action intense and the story well-developed. I highly recommend! ( )

I think this would be described by the publisher or author as an homage of sorts to the X-men comic series/movies; I saw it as a blatant rip-off. Mentioning the comics within the story is sort of an ass-covering move, and ultimately weak. It also seems like a mild Stephen King rip-off (always mentioning the nosebleeds seemed like near-constant referencing to King's Firestarter).

Definitely not a surprise to learn it's part of a trilogy as there are definitely more questions than answers, but it's not compelling enough for me to want to find the answers. This was highly recommended by Cory Doctorow, and to be fully honest, I am not a fan of Doctorow's writing, so I guess it's not a surprise I didn't like what he recommended. I keep on trying to like him, but...... I bet people who love Doctorow's stuff will like this though. Just not for me. ( )