Nature versus nurture. Genes versus upbringing. What forces form a child into the adult he or she becomes? In “What Boys Learn,” author Andromeda Romano-Lax delves forces us to consider that dilemma as we meet Abby Rosso, a counselor whose childhood was really rough. Her only sibling is a brother who is a psychopath and ended up in prison. But Abby also has done things she’s ashamed of.

Now she has a son who is sixteen, and she’s really worried about him. She’s really worried that he carries the “bad boy” genes that made her brother a criminal. She’s also not thrilled with her genetic contribution to his makeup. And Benjamin is not an easy child. He’s gotten into trouble, he seems to not have any empathy, and their relationship has become distant.

When two girls die, Abby starts worrying more. She teaches at a private high school on the North Shore of Chicago, and one of the benefits is reduced tuition for Benjamin. But he doesn’t really fit in with the privileged, wealthy kids who grew up in the mansions along Lake Michigan and on Sheridan Road. The police take him in for questioning after there’s a connection between him and the girls who died. And Abby doesn’t know what she thinks Benjamin might have done.

Abby’s ex-boyfriend Robert is a former cop, and when she starts to ponder the multitude of missing and murdered women, he helps her find more information. She likes Robert, but she’s not sure he’s a good influence on Benjamin. The other man in her life is someone who was her college professor in psychology, who she recently ran into while Benjamin was swimming at the pool. He tells Abby he’s really busy, that he is divorced, and that he has to finish his second book, but he does take Benjamin on for counseling. But soon his interest in Benjamin begins to make Abby suspicious.

Romano-Lax’s writing is really superb and while the book weighs in with well over 400 pages, it’s definitely not a slog. Quite the opposite. Because of the pacing, the book ends up being a quick read. We really want to find out what happens next, partly because we aren’t really sure what to believe about Benjamin and we want to find out the truth. Is he a psychopath? Just a messed-up kid? A killer?

One of the issues that Abby faces is something horrible she did when she was a child that had terrible consequences. Will she be able to forgive herself for that horrible mistake? The information and the psychological implications of what we read are chilling and might just cause readers to be unable to trust most people. The ending is really fabulous. And it’s all really well done, and a very satisfying novel about family, mental health, masculinity and toxic masculinity, and forgiveness.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.