There are books that you read and thoroughly enjoy. And then there are books that suck you in, grab your heart, and bring you to the edge of tears, and you just know that it’s going to stick with you for a long time to come. The Boy Who Steals Houses is one of the latter books. If you’ve ever read C. G. Drews’ first book A Thousand Perfect Notes, you’ll have some idea of what you’re in for. It’s one emotional ride. It was a much darker book than I was expecting at the start, though maybe I should have known better, but it’s all the more beautiful for that. After all, light shines brighter in the darkness. There are so many things to love about this book, but before I get into discussing those, here is the synopsis for The Boy Who Steals Houses.
Can two broken boys find their perfect home?
Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he’s ever known. Now Sam’s trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he’s caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing – each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie.
But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.
This book has some of the most beautiful writing I’ve read this year. Not in a useless, frivolous way, where the language used is pretty for the sake of just being pretty. The gorgeous, poetic language enhances the story, expressing emotion in such a way that it hits you straight in the heart with so much soul and meaning, and a terrible kind of beauty that just enhances the heartbreak of this book. And it’s like that on every page. For example:
“He doesn’t break into houses because he enjoys stealing. He stalks vacant windows and tricks locks and sleeps in stolen beds because he just wants to be home.”
Or this:
“The world has always been a hot coal on Avery’s skin. He is made of raw nerves that touch and feel and see everything too hard and too fast, and if you burn him too much – you get this. Overload. Catastrophe. Drowning.”
I just opened the book at two random pages and pulled a couple of quotes as I found them. The book is all so raw and poetic and beautiful and it makes you feel everything as it’s happening. The writing is breathtaking, and honestly, it will suck you in time and time again. It’s that powerful.
Another thing that makes The Boy Who Steals Houses so amazing is the De Lainey family. They’re a big family, full of warmth and love. They’re not immune from the heartbreak that stalks through the pages of this book, but they hold each other together as every good family should, and they make space in their elastic hearts for Sam and Avery as well. As part of a large family myself, I loved how real the family dynamics were. How everyone bickered and fought, how everything was chaotic, any yet everyone has each other’s backs. Family is such a huge theme in this book. The De Laineys have their family circle of love and safety, which creates a point of stability for all the characters. For Sam and Avery, family is everything, all the more precious for the fact that there are jut the two of them.
The Boy Who Steals Houses is also own voices rep for autism and anxiety. I loved the fact that this wasn’t a book about autism, and it wasn’t a book about anxiety. It was a story about two boys who also have these conditions. While stories about autism or mental health are needed and can be very powerful in their own right, sometimes we also need books where these things are shown as just another part of life. The world is not always kind to autistic people, or to people with mental health conditions, and that certainly comes through in The Boy Who Steals Houses. But these things aren’t the whole world either. There is more to every person than any condition they have. Sometimes you need books about the experiences, and sometimes these things are part of a whole person.
Overall, The Boy Who Steals Houses is a book that is not only going to steal its way into your house, but into your heart. Be prepared to maybe have a quiet little weep at some point, and to fall in love with every single character. It’s dark, but never without hope, and light from unexpected places. If you love books about soft characters in hard situations, and strong family bonds, which has beautiful writing, and which will capture your heart and make you feel all the feelings, then you will love this book.
Have you read The Boy Who Steals Houses? Or A Thousand Perfect Notes? What was the last book you read that made you emotional? Do you ever cry while reading? Let’s chat in the comments below!
