Bea's son, Simon, isn't tested. Not liking the idea of this M-Gene test, when Bea gave birth, she opted out immediately. Meanwhile, when Bea's sister, Antonia gives birth to Jack, Antonia and her husband, Owen, jump at the test and little Jack comes back M-. Antonia and Owen's views of the M-Gene test aren't all that surprising given that Owen is a doctor with close ties to the M-Gene research. In fact, over the course of Jack and Simon's lives, Owen and his business partner, Paul, start a clinic designed to help treat and care for M+ boys and their families.
Paul's own son, Malcolm, when tested, ends up being M+, and while Simon isn't treated that much different from Jack, it quickly becomes apparent to Bea that Malcolm and his mother, Zara, are shunned as even the slightest amount of aggression from Malcolm makes the others in their friend group nervous. It isn't long before Paul and Zara are divorced and Paul ends up marrying one of the assistants at the clinic who already has a young girl named Ginny.
Over the course of Simon, Jack and Malcolm's formative years, Bea can't help but see how society is shifting around them. At first, the fact that Simon isn't tested isn't much of an issue because at least he isn't proven to be M+. As she tries to get Simon into schools though, she starts to get turned down because Simon hasn't been tested. Bea starts to doubt her convictions and several times considers getting her son tested, but at each watershed moment, her resolve ends up re-doubling for one reason or another, and they continue to "make do."
Meanwhile, Jack's life, at least from Simon and Bea's perspective, seems to be all sunshine and rainbows. Not only is Owen and Paul's clinic well-received, but under the administrative guidance of Antonia, it is wildly successful. Jack has no problems getting into the best schools and he seems to have a lot of friends.
Bea tries to keep her sister's family at a distance, for various reasons, but one of them being that she doesn't like the idea of being dependent on them. Another reason is their constant pushing to get Simon tested. Bea feels she doesn't need a test to label Simon, but she also can't help but wonder every time he has some amount of aggression if his M-Gene is there and expressing itself.
While a lot of One of the Boys shows Jack and Simon's early life (with occasional bits about Zara and Malcolm), the bulk of the story takes place when the boys are 18 and Simon and Bea show up at Antonia's house just "wanting to catch up." While Antonia can't turn down her sister and nephew, the fact that Simon is covered in bruises worries Antonia.
As the story unfolds, it comes out that in recent years, Simon and Bea were living on a "Farm," basically a work camp for M+ boys that acts as cheap manual labor. These types of places have cropped up over the years and it seems to be a place where society is pushing these people with supposedly higher than average aggression. While Simon still remains untested, it seems that the world around him is seriously lumping untested in the same boat as those verified M+. But why is Simon bruised? What made him and Bea decide to go to Antonia, Jack and Owen for help after all of these years? As the book switches perspective between Bea, Antonia, Simon and Jack, the reader learns the different pieces of the puzzle surrounding this family, and some rather interesting dynamics play out. There are a few twists in the road, and while a couple were not wholly unexpected, One of the Boys had a few surprises I wasn't expecting.
I enjoyed One of the Boys on many levels. As you might expect, themes of nurture vs nature are predominant in this book, but, more specifically, I got a lot of vibes reminiscent of Gattaca, at least when looking at people and society and how genetic testing can easily lead to prejudices.
Cowie's characters are interesting and the story they are living through feels solid, but as a look into a direction that society can easily slip into, One of the Boys had my attention from the start and it didn't disappoint.
