Unintended Consequences

by Jim Boatwright

Genres: Fiction

266 pages, Hardcover

Published December 19, 2025

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fascinating read and
loved how their lives intertwined
throughout the years.

[Martie Newmyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where your life will lead and how many people’s paths you cross. Getting a glimpse into Nathan, Matthew, and Roderick’s lives and how they end up colliding with each other. This book left me feeling hopeful.

[Faithe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unintended Consequences by Jim Boatright follows Nathan Erskine. Nathan never planned to be a teacher, he just kinda fell into it. In his first year, he quickly realized he was in over his head and after a event with a particularly challenging student he quits his job.

Matthew Beckham prides himself on being a asshole, until he was sent to military school where his attitude changed quickly.

Roderick Bastrop was raised in the gang life, when he showed up to an elementary school with plans to shoot someone he ran up against Ester Evans the principal, who saw something in him.

For all three of these young men, these events changed their lives and had unintended consequences. Years later their stories collide in ways they never would have imagined.

I really enjoyed reading each of their stories and seeing how they came together. This book makes you think of all the unintended consequences in your own life and those still to show up.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Koehler Books, in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

#unintendedconsequences #netgalley

[Graceish ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crocuses burst through the ground in colorful splashes, and two weeks later jonquils began poking their yellow trumpets through the earth. Now, as certain as April itself, thunderstorms began popping up like cosmic jolts.

Dripping in Southern culture as thick as the South Carolina humidity, this debut novel was a bayou bourbon-soaked treat to read. It oozes the very essences of the South. Wraparound porches, sassy Southern quips, charming drawls, and grits, I felt like I had been dropped straight into the Carolina heat to watch the events of this novel play out.

In this novel, we get to know three disparate men: Nathan Erskine, a struggling new teacher. Matthew Beckham, an unruly teenager. And Roderick Bastrop, an elementary school kid who falls into the wrong crowd following the murder of his beloved grandfather. Though from very different backgrounds and in different stages of life, these three men’s lives impact the others’ in entirely unexpected ways. (Aptly named book, in that regard!)

It’s difficult to go into too much detail without giving away key points and spoilers, but in the end, Unintended Consequences did just what it was billed to do: invites us ‘to reconsider how systemic racism and white privilege shape our world’, and more. This novel tackles what it means to be not only a part of a complex family, but what it means to build family, both blood and chosen. The stories in this novel are small glimpses into what it is to be human: a bundle of flaws and strengths, stores of hurt and compassion.

5/5 stars.

[Beatrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a first book from a first time novelist.

This was more of a collection of loosely connected anecdotes than a proper novel. It's very much - this happened, and then this happened and then this happened - without any flow.

Nathan is an aimless young adult who tries teaching but gets in over his head when provoked by an unsupervised student named Matthew. Nathan quits teaching after Matthew's disgusting prank.

Eventually Nathan gets a job at a funeral home, where he meets someone who knows someone who introduces him to someone etc. The book is a lot like contact tracing of a disease - who crossed paths with whom, who is related to whom - just listing things.

The book ends with Nathan and Matthew both successful adults, turned friends remarking on how life's unlikely twists and turns can surprise you.

It was sort of a long walk to end up where it did, and wildly telegraphed.

[Linda Brennen · Rating 4 out of 5]

You never know where your life will lead you and who you might impact along the way.

The lives of three very different men are chronicled in this southern novel as they deal with the situations they are born into, the circumstances they are dealt, and the consequences of their both decisions and the actions of those around them.

As I started reading this novel, I was quickly pulled in. It became a little tedious in the middle, but I was glad I stayed with it because the ending was worth it.

Thank you Netgalley and Koehler Books for the opportunity to review this audiobook before the publication date. All opinions expressed are my own.