Dust City by Robert Paul Weston: Book Review

I’m taking a break from all my Banned Books Week reviews to post about an excellent book that is being released tomorrow! Check it out!

What if the Big Bad Wolf was framed?

That’s all the synopsis I want to give, but I’ll give you more.

Henry Whelp is a good wolf. He’s never gotten into any trouble. Nevertheless, he finds himself in juvie after he breaks a truck window. His father is the Big Bad Wolf of Little Red Riding Hood fame, and everyone is just waiting for Henry to go bad. Henry eventually finds out that his father believes he was framed. See, George was working for Dust City’s version of the mafia. They make their money by selling synthetic fairy dust to the population now that the fairies have disappeared. But what exactly caused them to disappear in the first place?

I love the whole idea of this book. The synopsis reminds me a little of Jasper Fforde’s Nursery Crime series. I enjoy those, so I thought this could be a winner for me and it was.

Henry is a nice guy who just can’t get a break. He ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time pretty frequently. He tries to do his best, but no one is looking for that; they’re only looking for his mistakes. He finally just has to take matters into his own hands and start following the clues to their conclusion.

Along the way he meets a female wolf, Fiona. Fiona is a smart little hottie. She actually sees the best in Henry. Her brother is a real trouble-maker, but he actually has some good points, so she’s used to looking for the good in people.

The mystery twisted and turned and I had no idea where it was going. When it’s all resolved, it makes perfect sense, but it’s darker than I expected. There are some slightly disturbing parallels between the book and humanity’s darkest times. That’s all I’ll say. It didn’t bother me, I don’t think it would bother most readers, but it did surprise me a little.

I enjoyed playing “spot the fairytale character,” and they showed up in some very unexpected places. I always get a kick out of that.

If the synopsis appeals to you at all, read this one. It’s a fast, entertaining read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I even find myself hoping that I’ll get to read another book starring Henry and Fiona in the future.