Holding Smoke by Elle Cosimano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

John “Smoke” Conlan is serving time at a juvenile rehabilitation center in Denver, Colorado, known as the Y. He was convicted of two murders, that of his English teacher and another boy but he wasn’t the one that had actually killed his teacher and hadn’t meant to kill the boy either.

Smoke has one thing different about himself that the others in the center don’t have. He is not always locked up, he has the ability to do what is known as astral projection or have an out of body experience and move around freely outside of his cell and outside of the Y.

Smoke has spent his time traveling outside of his body doing favors and tasks for other inmates to ease his own time in lock up. One day though he meets Pink who can actually see him and who wants to help Smoke clear his name.

Reading the synopsis of Holding Smoke I was really quite intrigued but a little hesitant on whether I’d enjoy this story or not. I’m not a big fan of the character being locked up type of story but with the use of astral projection being thrown into the mix I was wondering how the story would turn out if he wasn’t quite locked up the whole read. In the end I’m glad I picked this one up as it’s certainly different from your normal type of fantasy/paranormal read but also easily falls into the mystery/thriller genre.

Smoke’s ability to be able to travel despite his incarceration led so much life into the story of someone being innocent but convicted and behind bars. Smoke’s able to get outside and investigate what had happened to himself but also his prison life adds in a lot of twists and turns and things mixed into the plot that a reader should find themselves completely engaged.

Overall, certainly a bit different and interesting read that mixes genres which I usually quite enjoy.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.