It may be a small town, but Full Moon Cay has its share of big issues. Nobody feels the burden of these issues more than Tommy Jurczyk, the son of a family struggling to hold onto the past while embracing the future. Perpetually unsettled in his own skin, Tommy spirals into a physical altercation with his best friend Bobby over questions of gender, identity, and betrayal. A fight between two teens might not be a criminal offense, but after the boys disappear, the police get involved. The town pulls together to search, and everyone seems to know something, but nobody knows enough. Tommy is found, Bobby is not, and the police have more questions than leads. Soon, a hunt for a killer is on, and Tommy tries to settle back into a routine without his best friend, but nothing feels right anymore. Perhaps it’s the family curse his father told him about, maybe it’s the recent appearance of wolves around town, or it could be cloaked strangers and blue mists, but change is in the air. With the help of therapist and educator Dr. Niki Ravine, Tommy slowly begins to transform into the person he’s always wanted to become. But there is more to Niki than meets the eye. Her past might just be the undoing of Tommy’s future if he can’t disentangle himself from the web tightening around him.
If still waters run deep, then there’s no accounting for what lurks beneath the surface in Identity by A.J. Thibault. Not your average LGBT coming-of-age story, this character-driven supernatural thriller has undercurrents of horror and mystery that push readers in many directions. Lakeland is a character whose humble introduction into the story leaves a lasting impression. She journals, “I don’t know if I’m a man, a woman, or even a human… I’m not sure who I am. I don’t belong,” which serves as a powerful thematic anchor for the entire novel. The suspense starts early with questions about Bobby’s death, Tommy’s memory lapses, and some scary wolf sightings around town. But those storylines pale in the long shadow of Dr. Niki Ravine’s demented character. She is athletic, persuasive, resourceful, manipulative, accomplished, has a dubious past, and is being monitored by the FBI, so you know she brings plenty of drama to Full Moon Cay! Technical oversights, such as forensic details that strain credibility or the recycling of similar scenes, can at times distract and impair reader engagement. And even though characters experience memory blackouts, there are timeline inconsistencies that read more like mistakes than deliberate ambiguity. Consistent nods to the moon’s phases and the eerie suggestion of unseen presences subtly reinforce the novel’s supernatural elements. At the same time, real-world issues of exploitation, emotional instability, bullying, teen drug use, generational divides, and adolescent vulnerability keep the novel grounded in the here and now. The moon pulls on more than tides in Identity, a restless, multilayered book that refuses to settle into a single shape.
