I'm surprised that I liked this book as much as I did. From the plot description, I thought I was getting a dark urban fantasy. I ended up getting much more of a gritty urban contemporary. The former is right up my alley, the latter is not. And yet, I was fairly glued to it. All credit goes to Kate Thompson for that. The story is far, far more about Bobby's shift from a thoughtless thug to... well, not exactly sure what. Something more, at least. The epilogue was a little too brief for me. I would have preferred to see a bit more about who exactly Bobby became, and how. There is a mystery, possibly involving a changeling, but it's very much on the back burner. The winning thing about this story is Bobby's voice. Here is where Thompson really nailed it. It's very, very real, and his gradual change is very believable. Would've liked to see more of that change, though.
There are a few genuinely chilling moments in here, like Bobby's realization that, although his little brother might have made up a fairy, he wouldn't have made up an old one. My favorite moment was when one of Bobby's Clare friends mentions how young his mother is. He'd known all his life that she'd been young when she had him, 14. But it's not until he's 14 himself that he realizes exactly what that means.
My one concern about this book is that the summary, which on my copy seemed to play up the fairy elements, might turn off the readers who would enjoy it the most, boys like Bobby.
The cover on my copy is the one with the house with the blue door. It's a striking cover, and it does suit the darker elements of the story. That's only a small part of the story, though. The paperback cover, with Bobby stalking the streets, is probably more representative of what's actually going on in most of the book. It's a great cover. The band of green countryside at the bottom reflects the effect that Clare is having on Bobby: always at the back of his mind, but fiercely kept there.