The Impossible Fortress (Jason Rekulak) 

This book was a revelation for me. It had been completely off my radar until I got  the chance to pick up an advance reader copy (it’s being released in February of 2017).

It ended up being one of the best reads of my year thus far (and it’s been a good year for books). I finished it in around 24 hours of first getting the book, and loved every minute.

This is a story that perfectly encapsulates what being a nerdy computer-loving teen in the 1980s must have been like. If you’ve ever been a teen boy, you might understand the urgency of the protagonist’s mission: to obtain a copy of the Playboy magazine with Vanna White’s photo spread in it. This is at once a heist novel, a sweet love story, a coming-of-age tale, and a snapshot of a particular time in history. It has computer programming, scary nuns, a juvenile delinquent, and some great twists.

I simply cannot recommend this book enough! It took me back in time in a good way. I can’t remember the last book I flew through as fast.

The protagonist is named Will, and he’s got a ragtag group of friends who spend a great deal of their time thinking about adult topics (or at least topics that they believe are adult topics).  It ends up being much more difficult than anticipated to obtain their very own copy of said Playboy, so they instead hatch a plan to steal one.  This plan eventually involves Will getting involved with a girl, and his relationship with her ends up being a turning point in his life (but perhaps not the turning point he’d expected).  There was a good deal of humor in this novel, along with 80s references galore.  Oh, and Commodore 64s.  Several of those as well.

It’s gathering lots of buzz, so I cannot imagine this book not being huge upon its release next year. I’ll give it a perfect score, 100 out of 100.

To buy this outstanding novel (when it’s released), go here!