Garbage Town, Ravi Gupta

Advance reader copy review.

Garbage Town is a captivating mystery wrapped inside a coming-of-age story, and for the most part, this book absolutely delivers. In many ways, Ravi Gupta’s debut novel shares a lot of DNA with Chris Whitaker’s 2024 bestseller, All The Colors of Dark – only Garbage Town is much better!

Garbage Town’s fast-paced plot, compelling protagonist and roster of characters, and rich recreation of 1990s Staten Island are almost flawless. I loved spending time with Raj and getting to know his inner thoughts and insecurities as a mixed-race awkward teenage boy. Val and Ugo were also standout characters. Without giving away any spoilers, the mystery at the core of the plot kept me engaged from beginning to end and managed to convey an important social message without being heavy-handed or preachy.

My biggest critique of Garbage Town is that I wanted more. The early chapters are so full of rich character development and world-building, but as the novel picks up pace (particularly in Part 2), a few of the side-plots and characters (the Victory Boys, the rivalry with Sal and his gang, the romantic subplot with Antonella, Raj’s parents, even the dynamic between Raj and Booth set up in the prologue) seemed to fizzle out. As great as the plot was, I would have loved to spend a bit more time just hanging out with the residents of Travis.

Overall, Garbage Town is a quick, entertaining read that is definitely a step above many similar novels on the contemporary fiction shelf these days. Delightfully readable and charming, I think this novel will appeal to many different types of readers.