This is the author’s true story of his experiences in war-ravaged Sierra Leone, where he flees at the age of twelve from rebel fighters and is soon after recruited to fight as a soldier for the cruel and corrupt government army. The violence he is part of as a young adolescent is horrifying – he is brainwashed into becoming little more than a killing machine, with a thirst for blood and a total lack of compassion for fellow human beings. Parts of the book caused me to cringe, to have to close it for a moment to recompose myself. And although there is redemption and hope in Beah’s eventual rescue and rehabilitation, what sickens me is that this is a true story. Boys as young as eight or nine years old were drugged with cocaine, handed machine guns, and convinced that their self-worth was found in how many people they could kill in a day’s time. I was so ignorantly unaware that this country had suffered such violent conflict for so many years. So yes, this was a worthwhile read. Inform yourself.