Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

There are a few important concern categories that Christian parents should consider before they let one of their children read the latest installment from this popular author. First off, the intensity of the book’s main storyline is one that likely matches what parents would expect from a book of this type all the way up until the main character, Wrecker, starts looking into past events in Key West, where this book takes place. All of a sudden, the content gets quite a bit more intense and potentially concerning for Christian parents. Wrecker reads an account from the past of a black man who suffers a terrible tragedy at the hands of the KKK. The problem is this account includes quite a bit of detail, including a revenge shooting, beatings, the man himself being lynched and hanged and justice not being served due to corruption. There is a decent amount of detail in this account. Similarly, later we hear of a woman who, heartbroken over her husband chatting on her, commits suicide by drowning herself. Then finally, there is a brief mention of a police officer being shot on duty and a grandfather who smoked himself to death. Again, this content is out-of-sync with the intensity of the content found elsewhere in the book and should be seriously considered before allowing your particular child to read. — Next up, a lot of parents out there will want to know about one of the secondary storylines that are woven throughout. This author typically weaves environmental focus items into his books. This book he turns his attention to covid. All throughout this book, seemingly every few pages, the reader is presented with a pro-mask, pro-vaccine, viewpoint on dealing with the virus that was such a focal-point for several years. Often this is found in comments between characters who share opinions that only the dumbest of the dumb would not get the vaccine and wear masks when they go out. A child, without input from their parents, would likely walk away with a clear message that everyone who has half a brain would agree. This view is shared by all of the characters young readers would find themselves connecting with. This is especially reinforced when one person dies and a member of the family, one who doesn’t come across as very smart, catches the virus while unvaccinated and goes into intensive care for a long block of time. — The next main set of concerning content to weigh for your child revolves around what we will refer to as “a secular world's muddled view of religion”. You get a lot of what you would expect when a secular book decides to include random commentary on faith. At one point the cool girl character says, “we are both going to hell” (flippantly after doing something morally wrong) to which Wrecker replies, “Doubtful”. Wrecker is also not sure he believes in souls and, when asked if he is a ‘religious person’ replies that he “doesn’t go to church much, if that’s what you mean”. When Wrecker gets desperate and prays, he starts with, “If you’re up there…”. A pretty irreverent extended joke comes up a few times. After the kids bring up a Tik Tok preacher who is sharing about Jesus’ return they begin joking about what He will be ‘riding’ (e.g., a jet ski) when he arrives. There are several mentions of karma being real. Someone jokes, “so there is an afterlife”. — There is a decent amount of mentions and language to be aware of here. Examples include: ‘what the bleep’, damn, pissed off, badass, swear to god, idiot, smartass, ‘that blows’, dumbass, wiseass, jackass, ‘good god’, ‘did hell freeze over’, ‘vocab of cuss words is vast and colorful’, and ‘bat-bleep crazy’. God’s name is used in vain many times in many different ways. References to the Kardashians, Katy Perry, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Zoolander, a werewolf, witch, ‘spirit forces’, flesh-eating zombies, voodoo curse, Tik Tok, and Lady Gaga. There are several alcohol references (tequila, margaritas, whiskey, beer), mostly in song names. Wrecker’s great, great grandfather was a bootlegger. There are also several references to tourists drinking too much, partying, etc. There are a couple of references to smoking and marijuana. Wrecker’s mom is constantly getting plastic surgery (although this is shown in a negative light) — Finally, Wrecker does a lot of dangerous and illegal actions across this story (sneaking into a graveyard after being told by police not to, driving without a license, lying, etc.). He is basically completely unsupervised throughout the story.