Going Where It’s Dark

Buck Anderson loves to explore caves with his best friend David and the twosome hope to discover their very own hole. When Buck finally does so, David has moved away but the adventure has not! As Buck continues to explore the hole, an activity he is forbidden to do alone, he finds himself lying more and more to his friends and family.

Going Where It’s Dark contains many plot twists and conflicts between almost all of the characters, creating an extremely complex story while still being easy to understand.

However, characters in the book occasionally use rude or offensive language. Additionally, there are several events of underage drinking, which may be inappropriate for younger readers.

While Naylor does a superb job of keeping the story going, some of the details and events in the story could be omitted, for example, when Buck goes to a “faith healer,” hoping to cure his stuttering, a problem that causes much bullying. This episode failed to push the story forward.

Despite this, Naylor keeps the action going through almost every chapter in her brand-new bildungsroman.