I hate be the lone dissenter here, but I honestly hated this book and cannot figure out why it is so highly praised. The storyline is boring, the characters are one-dimensional, unrealistic and annoying, and the violence in this book is overwhelming. Gruesome shootings and beatings occur at regular intervals, and one particularly awful torture scene is enough to turn one's stomach. It seems like the author, instead of wanting to write a decent story with realistic and engaging dialogue, instead decided that it would be much easier to simply pen scenes where everyone gets blown to smithereens, while our heroic duo emerge with barely a scratch. And yes, I do realize the book centers around gang warfare, but all the guns, snipers and grenades seemed a bit much a times. Perhaps I'm naive.I'm certainly glad that I checked this book out at the library and did not waste money on it.