Fire up the flux ca.... oh.... um, nevermind - wrong show. For this show, we have a review by andy021278 of Author Camy's JJ and the Boys, written for the 2006 Anthology Day of Silence. I hope you enjoy andy's review as much as I did!

Review by andy021278
Status: Complete
Word Count: 7592

Set in a boarding school in England, it is the story of John Palmer, a seventeen year old prefect in the Lower Sixth, and Jimmy James (the JJ of the title) who is a sixteen year old boy in the same house as John Palmer, and is in the Upper Fifth. John Palmer has two secrets; the first is that he is gay, and the second is that he is completely in love with JJ.

The story starts out with Prefect Palmer catching JJ and three other boys misbehaving in a classroom. Palmer has the idea that JJ was being bullied, but upon questioning, JJ says that he and the other boys were simply horsing around; leaving Palmer with no choice but to punish JJ as well. JJ comes to the conclusion that Palmer doesn’t care about him at all and that Palmer doesn’t care that he is being bullied; and even worse that when Palmer actually catches him being bullied Palmer gives him a detention.
JJ has his own secrets; he is gay, and is completely in love with John Palmer. JJ writes in his blog: To love someone so much and not be loved back is too much. I can’t cope for much longer.

Come evening inspection, it becomes evident that JJ is missing, and another boy reports seeing him with a bottle of pills. After reading the blog entry and hearing about the pills, John Palmer is fearful of what JJ might do, so he calls his friends together to help search for JJ.

Palmer’s friends are a ragtag group who outwardly have nothing at all in common, yet they are a very tight knit group. However, it becomes clear that in order for John Palmer to save JJ he may have to reveal certain secrets to his friends that he may not want to. How far will John Palmer go to try to save JJ? Is he prepared to risk not only his friendships, but also his life at school, all for the boy he loves? Can he help JJ before it’s too late?

I hadn’t read anything of Camy’s before, but I was impressed with his writing style, and really enjoyed this short story. The characters are unusually well developed for such a short piece, and as a reader I could connect with both JJ and Palmer on a much deeper level than usual with short stories. Having read the other entries from the “Day of Silence” anthology, “JJ and The Boys” is my personal favourite.