num_pages: 285
description: A dazzling debut novelat once a charming romance and a moving coming-of-age storyabout what happens when a fourteen-year old boy pretends to seduce a girl to steal a copy of Playboy but then discovers she is his computer-loving soulmate.Billy Marvins first love was a computer. Then he met Mary Zelinsky.Do you remember your first love?The Impossible Fortress begins with a magazineThe year is 1987 and Playboy has just published scandalous photographs of Vanna White from the popular TV game show Wheel of Fortune. For three teenage boysBilly Alf and Clarkwho are desperately uneducated in the ways of women the magazine is somewhat of a Holy Grail: priceless beyond measure and impossible to attain. So they hatch a plan to steal it.The heist will be fraught with peril: a locked building intrepid police officers rusty fire escapes leaps across rooftops electronic alarm systems and a hyperactive Shih Tzu named Arnold Schwarzenegger. Failed attempt after failed attempt leads them to a genius master plantheyll swipe the security code to Zelinskys convenience store by seducing the owners daughter Mary Zelinsky. It becomes Billys mission to befriend her and get the information by any means necessary. But Mary isnt your average teenage girl. Shes a computer loving expert coder already strides ahead of Billy in ability with a wry sense of humor and a hidden big heart. But what starts as a game to win Marys affection leaves Billy with a gut-wrenching choice: deceive the girl who may well be his first love or break a promise to his best friends.
language: English
title: The Impossible Fortress
publisher: Simon & Schuster