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Overview
Macy grew up unwanted, unloved, and alone. By his teens he had quit school and begun stealing. In and out of juvie, Macy is a shoplifter, a car thief, and, by age eighteen, a murderer.Danny grew up physically disabled, raised by his grandmother, and a loner. Now sixteen, he finds solace in taking photographs, particularly of monarch butterflies, and thinking about Leah, the most beautiful girl in town.
It is Leah who unwittingly causes these two very different boys, who share some startling similarities, to meet in a first and final terrifying encounter.
The outcome of this hard-hitting and spellbinding novel from an exciting new author will rivet readers and leave them thinking about nature, nurture, justice, and the remarkable power of human kindness.
Macy and Danny, two teenage boys who have both grown up under difficult circumstances, turn out very differently--one becomes a hero, the other a murderer.
Synopsis
Macy grew up unwanted, unloved, and alone. By his teens he had quit school and begun stealing. In and out of juvie, Macy is a shoplifter, a car thief, and, by age eighteen, a murderer.
Danny grew up physically disabled, raised by his grandmother, and a loner. Now sixteen, he finds solace in taking photographs, particularly of monarch butterflies, and thinking about Leah, the most beautiful girl in town.
It is Leah who unwittingly causes these two very different boys, who share some startling similarities, to meet in a first and final terrifying encounter.
The outcome of this hard-hitting and spellbinding novel from an exciting new author will rivet readers and leave them thinking about nature, nurture, justice, and the remarkable power of human kindness.
Publishers Weekly
Halliday's studiously ironic but ultimately thin first novel follows two story lines. First introduced is convicted robber Macy who, upon release from jail, steals a car and buys a gun. He murders a teen girl he sees running on the side of a road, then drives on, with no particular destination in mind. The narrative shifts to the small town of Shiloh, where a misfit named Danny secretly worships the pretty and popular Leah. The author maintains distance from his characters even as the story lines converge, along the way supplying detailed but detached profiles of the people Macy and Danny each encounter, such as Eddie, a police officer who was also once a troubled kid but is now "one of the kindest people anyone ever met," thanks to critical guidance from a high school teacher. Many details, however, seem contrived, such as Macy's fear of the rain (traced to an episode early in his childhood) or overdone (Danny not only has a crooked spine, but his front teeth are so crooked that "he could only eat corn by holding the cob firmly to his cheek and chewing with his side teeth"). Halliday's cynicism may appeal to teenage sophisticates, and he does build tension well after Macy kidnaps Leah. In the end, however, the voice may be too stylized to engage readers at an emotional level. Ages 14-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Halliday's studiously ironic but ultimately thin first novel follows two story lines. First introduced is convicted robber Macy who, upon release from jail, steals a car and buys a gun. He murders a teen girl he sees running on the side of a road, then drives on, with no particular destination in mind. The narrative shifts to the small town of Shiloh, where a misfit named Danny secretly worships the pretty and popular Leah. The author maintains distance from his characters even as the story lines converge, along the way supplying detailed but detached profiles of the people Macy and Danny each encounter, such as Eddie, a police officer who was also once a troubled kid but is now "one of the kindest people anyone ever met," thanks to critical guidance from a high school teacher. Many details, however, seem contrived, such as Macy's fear of the rain (traced to an episode early in his childhood) or overdone (Danny not only has a crooked spine, but his front teeth are so crooked that "he could only eat corn by holding the cob firmly to his cheek and chewing with his side teeth"). Halliday's cynicism may appeal to teenage sophisticates, and he does build tension well after Macy kidnaps Leah. In the end, however, the voice may be too stylized to engage readers at an emotional level. Ages 14-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.VOYA
Macy grows up unwanted and unloved. When he was a young child, his mother left him outside all night, sometimes tied to the swing set in the pouring rain, while she was out getting drunk and stoned with a boyfriend. When he is a teenager, Macy quits school and begins a life of crime. He starts out shoplifting and then moves on to stealing cars. By the age of eighteen, Macy graduates to murder. His horrible childhood experiences turn him into a cold-blooded sociopath. Physically disabled, Danny has been raised by his grandmother and ostracized by everyone at school. Danny is a loner who finds solace in going off to the woods and taking photographs of his favorite subject, monarch butterflies. Danny is in love with Leah, the most beautiful girl in town. The lives of Macy and Danny intersect when Macy comes to town looking for another victim. Macy forces Leah into the trunk of his car at gunpoint and drives to a secluded area outside of town where he waits for the right moment to kill her. The location happens to be the place where Danny goes to take his photographs. Danny rescues Leah, but in a tragic irony, he is fatally shot by someone assuming that he is the kidnapper. Macy is captured and put on trial for capital murder. Leah's life is changed forever. This disturbing, riveting story grabs the reader at the first sentence and never lets go. At its darkest moments, the story is reminiscent of Robert Cormier's Tenderness (Delacorte, 1997/VOYA April 1997). This novel will haunt readers long after they have finished it, with questions about nature, nurture, fate, and compassion. VOYA Codes: 5Q 4P M J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School,defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2003, Margaret K. McElderry/S & S, 144p,— Ed Sullivan