Aftershock

Seventeen-year-old Adam and his parents are driving home to Rhode Island from a peace rally in Seattle when the accident happens. In a single, horrible moment, his parents are gone. And Adam is alone.

In a speechless state of shock, Adam begins walking across the country, toward home. But he can't think in a straight line: The past and present merge in his thoughts, and the future's a blank. As flashes of memory come to him — some wonderful, some violent — he begins to wonder if he has truly lost everything.

Seventeen-year-old Adam is tormented. His parents have just been killed in a car crash in Idaho, and he has survived. In a speechless state of shock, Adam begins walking home, back to Rhode Island. But he can't think in a straight line: The past and present blend and merge in his thoughts; the future's a blank; he's lost his voice and his money. Memories fling themselves at him like stones, some inflicting great pain.

In Adam's harrowing journey he faces many challenges. He confronts situations that demand violence or compromise from him, forcing him to question what it means to be a man, even as he tries to find his voice in a world suddenly devoid of meaning. This gripping and haunting novel is the story of one young man's struggle to survive — literally — on the road, and to propel himself emotionally from despair to hope and freedom.

VOYA

Driving through Idaho on the way home to Rhode Island from a Seattle, Washington, peace rally, Adam's car is hit by a deer. His father, who is driving, and his mother are killed. After checking on the status of his parents and the deer, a dazed seventeen-year-old Adam leaves the scene and begins wandering. He becomes mute, and his recollection of the accident is hazy. As night falls, he veers toward a light in the roadside woods. When he reaches it-a Wiccan prayer campfire-he collapses. He is cared for by and sleeps with one of the Wiccan's. After five weeks, a voice in his head tells Adam that he must go home. He begins hitching rides, a difficult task because he is mute. Adam meets both nice and unsavory people, steals a car, scrounges for food, sleeps in a dumpster, and suffers from dehydration and more. Interspersed in the story are flashbacks of his idyllic, pre-accident life with his liberal parents, his emotionally abused girlfriend, his aunt, autistic cousin, and school friends. What could be a strong growth story, is instead an unbelievable and bland travelogue with flashbacks. Characters are not fleshed out and circumstances defy credibility. The happy ending is not even heartwarming. Adam's life before the accident is too good to be true. The most interesting character is his girlfriend, who is virtually ignored by her parents and used to cut herself. But even Adam's relationship with her seems perfect. There is no grit, no surprise, no anticipation in this book.

Kelly Easton is the author of Walking on Air and The Life History of a Star, which was a Teen Readers Book Sense Top Ten book and a Golden Kite Award Honor winner. She has published stories in such literary journals as the Connecticut Review, the Paterson Literary Review, Iris, and Frontiers. Kelly Easton lives in Jamestown, Rhode Island.