As gut-wrenching as the "sneaky pete" her hero guzzles down, S. E. Hinton's latest novel [Rumble Fish] won't sit well with book selectors who demand that children's fiction end hopefully, if not happily. No hard-nosed punk, young Rusty-James rapidly loses everything meaningful to him—his girl, his "rep" as number one tough guy, and, most important, his idolized older brother…. Stylistically superb (the purposely flat, colorless narrative exactly describes Rusty-James' turf of pool halls, porno movie houses, and seedy hang-outs), this packs a punch that will leave readers of any age reeling.

Jane Abramson, in a review of "Rumble Fish," in School Library Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2, October, 1975, p. 106.