Two new paperbacks absorbed me because of the conflicts and the way the heroes faced them. He finds a strange world where a sinkhole swallows his school, lightning strikes daily and kills a boy at football practice. Paul is haunted the darkness of his football star brother, prejudice because of his poor eyesight, and being drawn to Hispanic growers who know a family warmth Paul only wishes for. In a world where tragedy rules, Paul struggles to remember his own tragic past and to forge a future where truth matters more than perfection. Cliff wants to name the horrors of his father's cruelty and his mother's reactive retreat.
Conflict exists within and outside the family.
While boys are divided on plans for a resolution and sibling rivalry, they are united in protecting a female friend facing physical abuse, struggling against poverty, and wanting the family warmth that existed in their long ago memories. As David tries to recover equilibrium, sanity, and sense of self, he's faced with the psychological horrors in his temporary home. His young cousin Lily is terribly disturbed, his aunt and uncle have a bizarre system of communication, and everything seems linked to his memories of the murder he's committed. Tension mounts and parallels grow as David makes connections and attains new understandings about himself, the past, and differences of appearance and reality. Finn, physically and emotionally devastated by the small airplane accident that has killed his parents and sister, is living with his loving grandmother.