Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Nightside

Nightside
reviewed on + 66 more book reviews


Times Square - a grim cesspool of drugs pornography and violent crime. Troubled teens fleeing from broken lives or stunted hopes are attracted to the city and into the turf of predators and lost teens like themselves. Ms. Santiago has composed a finely written and well-balanced book with these characters and the few adults trying to rescue the lost teens who want a way back. Her lead character, the ex-nun Anna, has founded a halfway house and is losing it in a budget squeeze, and losing her chance to provide shelter for the children. Your heart will be touched frequently in this very good expose of the rot of the city, which as the author suggests has betrayed the children and left them to fates often worse than death.
You will not regret reading this excellent book with the look at degradation and endurance. You will want to run out and do anything you to can meet the challenge and help other young people like these to survive. The author is so sympathetic to her characters; it is touching and she portrays the adults as equally vulnerable to the hurts and danger of the city environment