In The Puzzled, James F. Johnson puts together all the pieces from his first two books to reveal some shocking secrets about Kyle Rickett’s past. This third and final book in the Bullies and Allies series follows Disaster Island and The Goat Driver. In Disaster Island, readers were introduced to thirteen-year-old Kyle’s dysfunctional family, as well as pediatrician Dr. Krieg, whom Kyle has vague memories of abusing him as a child. Unfortunately, Dr. Krieg is the only friend of Kyle’s father, and now that Kyle is older, that doesn’t stop Krieg’s behavior. Kyle is surrounded by bullies at school and at home, while he simply tries to survive. When things come to a head, his family, not knowing how to deal with him, sends him to spend the summer with his grandfather Louie in Minnesota. In The Goat Driver, Kyle arrives in Minnesota. Over the summer, he makes a new friend, a young man named Tuck, who teaches him the true meaning of friendship and how to defend himself when he returns home.

As The Puzzled opens, Kyle has just returned to his home on Torano Island in Washington. He is more confident in himself than before, and with Tuck’s secret support, Kyle is able to take on some, but not all, of his bullies. His sociopathic sister, Fran, continues to cause problems in the family, driving a wedge between Kyle and his parents. Kyle is always afraid of what she will say; she is always willing to expose family secrets as well as tell lies or just guess until she finds out the truth of the situations.

Outside of his immediate family, Kyle has other issues to deal with. He remains an outcast at school, though he learns to cope better. When Dr. Krieg is accused by an anonymous caller of child molestation and leaves his practice, Kyle is deathly afraid that whoever knows about Krieg’s activities will also know that he was one of Krieg’s victims, and when that knowledge exposed to the public, it will ruin your life.

Fortunately, Kyle has found his allies. He maintains a secret correspondence with Tuck, who, despite being far away in California, continually supports him and even lets him know that if it ever becomes necessary, he will come to Torano Island to rescue him. Closer to home is Kyle’s neighbor and best friend, Connor. Kyle has kept secrets from Connor all these years, afraid that if Connor knew how he was treated at Catholic school, he wouldn’t be his friend either. But when Connor and Kyle start high school together, they bond even more, and Kyle is able to outrun the bullies from his Catholic school past. Eventually, Connor and Kyle start their own radio show, which becomes a hit on the island of Torano. Soon, Kyle discovers that he is popular and well liked. The radio show and his friendship with Connor allow him to see possibilities for his future.

But the future still requires facing the past. Although he has yet to be diagnosed, Kyle has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since his abusive childhood, causing him to sometimes revert to dangerous behavior, both suicidal and sexual. He soon realizes that his biggest enemy may be himself.

The Puzzled comes to a very satisfying conclusion. James F. Johnson does an excellent job of bringing together all the problems Kyle has faced in the past and showing how he solves them. This book, and indeed the entire series, is more than just an entertaining novel. It will raise awareness about family dysfunction, post-traumatic stress disorder, sociopaths, child abuse, and many other issues that make people find life difficult to manage. The Puzzled, in particular, is very much about healing from the past. Johnson offers a very concise look at bullying, and while he agrees that it’s important to stand up to bullies, he also shows that there are some situations where you just can’t stand up to bullies, so the best you can do is to do is walk away. . This lesson is the hardest for Kyle to accept because it means ending some relationships he would have liked to have, but the only way to ensure his sanity and safety is to cut the ties that would otherwise bind him.

I continue to be impressed with Johnson’s ability to develop his characters so completely. These characters feel like real people, like people I’ve known, cried and cheered with as they’ve experienced life’s ups and downs. If I have any complaint, it is that the story is over. Even though The Puzzled is much longer than the previous two books, I keep thinking about a lot of things, not because Johnson can’t solve everything, but because I want more: I want to know what Jayne, Kyle’s niece, becomes. like after being raised by a sociopathic mother. I want to know more about Kyle’s cousin, Scooter, who fakes his death after his family condemns him for being gay. I just don’t want to leave these people. I guess I’m hoping for some kind of spinoff series one day.

Overall, I can’t recommend the Bullies and Allies series highly enough. Anyone who has experienced a dysfunctional past, and at least to some degree, we all have, will find much to relate to and, more importantly, to learn from within these pages.