Best friends sometimes do unexpected things. Abdi and Noah were best friends and did something that no one would expect.

The unexpected incident obviously brought the police in along with the two silent friends. Noah was put into a coma because of his injuries, and Abdi wasn't talking.

ODD CHILD OUT was definitely a study of personalities and human emotions. Each character seemed to not fit with each other, and I thought it was odd that they were family members as well as friends. I did like the "bucket list" that Noah and his father compiled, but one part of the bucket list is what caused a problem the night of the incident.

ODD CHILD OUT has us following along with the police in their investigation after Noah is found in the canal and an eye witness says she saw the best friends arguing. When Noah who is terminally ill with cancer is found floating in the canal and Abdi, his best friend, had been with him, no one knows what to think. It is difficult to imagine these boys doing anything out of the ordinary because they were star pupils.

We also follow the story being told by Abdi and Noah about what really happened as the friends silently re-live it in their minds.

The descriptions and the character development are very good and help you visualize the scenes and totally experience the emotions of each character which were mostly fear, loss, and questioning. You also feel the weight of lies and silence, truths untold, and prejudices.

ODD CHILD OUT is an emotional, tense book that will make you think and question.

Another excellent read by Gilly MacMillan. 4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Two fifteen year old boys, one from a privileged white family, the other a black Somolian refugee become unlikely friends when the refugee is given a scholarship to a prestigious school in Bristol, England. One night the boys sneak out of the house with dire consequences. Inspector Clemo is the one who has to sort everything out as to what really happened that fateful night.
The is a great psychological thriller thriller that will keep you guessing until the end.

This story revolves around best friends Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad, both aged 15. Noah missed a lot of school because of medical treatments for his cancer. Upon his return to school he is shunned by the other kids, except for Abdi. Their backgrounds are drastically different – Noah being from an upper middle class white family and Abdi from a black Muslim Somali refugee family. But this does not matter to them.

One night after attending Noah’s father’s photography exhibition the boys wander out along the canal on an adventure. The evening ends in tragedy when an unconscious Noah is pulled from the cold dark waters of the canal. Surveillance cameras show that the boys argued, Noah walked away, and Abdi followed. But this is not the whole story. They both had secrets they guarded tightly. With Noah in a coma, the police question Abdi as to what happened but he refuses to talk. And we all know that silence is usually seen as guilt.

Noah’s parents are beyond grief. Unknown to others, they know that Noah had only a couple of months to live. And now they may not have even that. Anger does not even begin to describe how they feel – devastated is more like it.

Abdi’s family is terrified when Abdi goes missing. Secrets from the Somali refugee camp 15 years ago have shockingly followed them to their home in Bristol.

The story is told from the perspectives of Noah (who as he lies in his coma reflects back on his life and the realization of all the things he will never get to do), Abdi’s 20-year-old sister Sofia (who has stronger maternal feelings for Abdi than does his mother), and Jim, one of the detective’s assigned to the case. I found it interesting that these perspectives were used, especially Sofia instead of Abdi. But this worked well in revealing some of the backstory of Abdi’s family fleeing Somalia. But Abdi has recently learned something that Sofia was never aware of.

I got the impression from some of Jim’s story that this book is part of a series. After looking up her other books I found that Jim is the detective from the book “What She Knew”. But rest assured that you do not need to read that book first to understand this one. In “Odd Child Out” Jim is having to attend sessions with a psychologist over a case he had recently completed – the case in “What She Knew”.

This was an excellent study in teen friendships and how families respond to tragedy. Abdi’s family’s fear and instinctive need to protect their son. Noah’s family is angry because Noah won’t tell them what happened. There is an unreliable witness whose story must be investigated. Detective Chief Inspector Corrine Fraser, Jim’s supervisor, knows that due to some recent racial tension in the city they may be sitting on a powder keg if Abdi is accused of attacking Noah.

The author puts us in the heads of Noah, Sofia, and Jim and allows the story to unfold a bit at a time. The pacing of the story was excellent. No quick wrap-up at the end as so often happens. I thought the story came to a very satisfying closure.

Thank you to GoodReads and William Morrow books for this excellent book.

It has been interesting to read the lower ranked reviews after reading the book. However I have to agree with the majority --- i really liked this book It drew me in from the very beginning and while it was not the "thriller" i thought it would be, it had a lot of unanswered questions, and I really enjoyed the social and political issues it brought up. Yes, you can porbably figure out why things happened the way they did, but its the personalities that really make this story.

Best friends Noah Sandler and Abdi Mahad have always been inseparable. But when Noah is found floating unconscious in Bristol's Feeder Canal, Abdi can't--or won't--tell anyone what happened.

Just back from a mandatory leave following his last case, Detective Jim Clemo is now assigned to look into this unfortunate accident. But tragedy strikes and what looked like the simple case of a prank gone wrong soon ignites into a public battle. Noah is British. Abdi is a Somali refugee. And social tensions have been rising rapidly in Bristol. Against this background of fear and fury two families fight for their sons and for the truth. Neither of them know how far they will have to go, what demons they will have to face, what pain they will have to suffer.

Macmillan never disappoints! A fast paced read and the 2nd in the Jim Clemo series, but you can still read without buying #1, although I would recommend that you do, because Macmillan's books are not to be missed!