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To Doley, he and Levi are fillers of the holes that adults, particularly his dad and Levi's parents, dig with their deceit. Levi spies Doley with a woman in distress, in the woods near the house he's just moved into. Levi is leery of the older boy at first but also drawn to him. They become friends. Doley's bullying makes him a prime suspect in the town's case of a girl found unconscious in the woods. Roles reverse, though, when Levi stands up to his alcoholic, abusive dad. As he and Doley plan their hole-filling revenge, Levi learns the truth about the girl and his origin.
Levi's family comes to town, escaping the trauma of miscarriages, an affair, and gossip surrounding Levi's parents' fights. Add the unconscious girl, her sister's woeful tales, and a cemetery's worth of dead characters, and the story is tragic at every turn. Claustrophobic scenes—arguments and schemes in bars, forest hideouts, and in broken homes—twist into interweaving tensions ripe to burst. Levi's mom's response to the tension in unending religious utterances deepens the darkness it hides. Layered with present-day drama, stories from the past, and visions of a justice-infused future, the descent to a final confrontation is seamless in its wrenching suspense.
Mom's lies, the reason Dad drinks, and Doley's father's secret are brought to light in Doley and Levi's plan to attack on Halloween. The final chapters find Doley and Levi agile characters, responsible for themselves and each other. This coming-of-age novel, set within a thriller's conceit, depicts adulthood as harrowing and brutal. Not for the faint of heart, this novel's heart-racing ride pushes morality and plot to their limits.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review