Big City Secrets by Alec Charles is a gritty portrayal of life on the streets of Los Angeles and explores what the American Dream looks like to different types of people. This novel follows the personal journey of a young man named Lee who escapes an abusive home and heads to L.A. Lee meets some intriguing people that change the path he travels and changes him as a person. He rises from the streets to find that big city living is tough on many levels. Readers are left with the question, is life amongst the rich better than a tough life on the streets of L.A.?

Author Alec Charles has a knack for building compelling characters that are relatable, engaging, and authentic. While I’ve never met anyone quite like the characters described in the, I can imagine they exist and it was interesting to see how they crossed path with Lee. Our protagonist is an engrossing character in his own right and the evolution that his characters goes through over the course of this riveting novel is something that stands out to me as one of the finer points of this book.

The story is told from the first person perspective of Lee and through him we get to explore a city on the go and, to me, it seemed as if the city and life changes based on your perspective. Its these types of introspection that kept me flipping pages and coming back to the story.

Big City Secrets is crude but thought-provoking, raw but true. I highly recommend this fascinating novel to anyone looking for a poignant and well defined view of American life in a big city.

Pages: 167 | ASIN: B0191YZW4O