Out of Eden

Gr 10 Up—In this unsettling tale of seemingly random violence, Stony and his family are stalked and attacked by two drifters. Following his parents' divorce and his grandmother's murder, Stony has withdrawn from his blustering, aggressive father, Arthur. When Arthur asks Stony and Stony's sister, Molly, to take a weeklong New Hampshire vacation with him and his new girlfriend, Sally, the teens comply. At a roadside rest area, they encounter two drifters, Leopold and Abraham, who are traveling with a distraught woman. A confrontation between Arthur and the drifters ensues and soon the police are called. Later, while hiking, the family is ambushed by the same men. Sally is raped "off-stage," Molly is traumatized, and both Stony and Arthur are badly beaten. Without notifying the police, Arthur finds Abraham and Leopold, and, with Stony's help, gets retribution. Woven into this fast-moving, suspenseful story are the sporadic, hallucinatory musings of Leopold who has been stalking Stony and his father. Breezy dialogue, vivid characters, and the rugged White Mountain landscape add compelling realism to this sinister tale. There are some unanswered questions that may leave readers stumped: Sally, a school guidance counselor, leaves her rape unreported, while Stony and Molly decide not to talk about what happened. Oddly resigned to their fate and resistant to professional help, the adults decide not to involve the authorities. Although Stony feels more connected to his father after their shared trauma, readers may wonder how Stony's nightmares can be so easily erased.—Gerry Larson, formerly at Durham School of the Arts, NC