Fiction
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Synopsis
Product DescriptionIt is the autumn of 1999. A year has passed since Lucy Darby's unexpected death, leaving her husband David and son Whitley to mend the gaping hole in their lives. David, a trauma-site cleanup technician, spends his nights expunging the grisly remains of strangers, helping their families move on, though he is unable to do the same. Whitley--an eleven-year-old social pariah known simply as the Kid--hasn't spoken since his mother's death. Instead, he communicates through a growing collection of notebooks, living in a safer world of his own silent imagining.
As the impending arrival of Y2K casts a shadow of uncertainty around them, their own precarious reality begins to implode. Questions pertaining to the events of Lucy's death begin to haunt David while the Kid, who still believes his mother is alive, enlists the help of his small group of misfit friends to bring her back. As David continues to lose his grip on reality and the Kid's sense of urgency grows, they begin to uncover truths that will force them to confront their deepest fears about each other and the wounded family they are trying desperately to save.
Review
''There are no easy answers or safe archetypes here, nor is there a single iota of sugar-coating. The world of Scott O'Connor's debut novel is tough, worn, and thoroughly lived in, and is as vivid and painfully honest as anything I've read in a very long time. Do not sleep on
Untouchable, this is the real thing.'' --Nathan Singer, author of
A Prayer for Dawn and In the Light of You
''Once in a very long time, a book comes along that resonates and sings with heart. It's characters so real you want to touch them, hug them. Their peril so well told you are filled with fear as you are a mere observer of their adventure. You find yourself holding your breath as you read the last pages of the story for all could be lost or won in the confines of this bound paper. And when it is over you wish you could read it all for the first time, again. That is how good this book is.'' --
Crimespree magazine
''Heartfelt . . . the story is involving and moves easily through material that could smother with treacle, but O'Connor's strong characters--especially the Kid, whose elementary school humiliations are especially well handled--and his ease with conveying their emotions keeps the novel afloat.'' --
Publishers Weekly
''O'Connor's prose is as beautifully terse as his plot . . . It's an affecting mix, squeezing the reader's emotions so that when the myth of the 'perfect' family begins to dissolve through flashbacks, it feels like the inevitable waking from a halcyon dream.'' --
Booklist
About the Author
SCOTT O'CONNOR lives in Los Angeles. His 2004 novella
Among Wolves was praised by the
Los Angeles Times Book Review for its ''crisp, take-no-prisoners style,'' and they hailed the author as ''one to watch.''
Book Details
Published
May 1, 2011
Publisher
Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Pages
1
Format
Audio MP3 CD - Unabridged
ISBN
9781455110216