It’s 1987 on a cold winter evening in Milwaukee, WI and six middle-school paperboys are out selling newspaper subscriptions with the promise of Burger King at the end of it all. That night, they end up in the unfamiliar neighborhood of Hampton Heights where things are far from normal.

HAMPTON HEIGHTS by Dan Kois really leaned into the spooky creatures and tropes (with Milwaukee references galore!!)

I really loved that this story took place over the course of one evening and that, for the most part, none of the characters really knew one another at the start, making the ending really beautiful with a strong coming of age feel.

This book is broken up into different chapters following each set of characters as they’re broken up into pairs and, while I wasn’t a fan of every vignette, there were some strong standout ones and the imagery was really well done!

I do feel that the target audience for this book is ~the teenage boy~ with the fart jokes and playboys and overall sense of humor, but I enjoyed it regardless!

Thanks to Harper Perennial for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: September 17