In a neighborhood where random death walks onto your front porch and kills you or your innocent little brother, Mann and Kee-lee become increasingly convinced that they’ll die before reaching 17. Mann’s parents are in a tailspin of grief and worry about their remaining son. Mann’s father, in a bizarre belief that his son needs to be toughened up in order to survive, takes the two buddies camping and deserts them far from home. Making their way home pushes the boys into one risky, illegal and dangerous decision after another. Instead of getting sympathy and support on their return, Mann’s father again turns them loose in the city with a little money and some sandwiches and orders not to come back. Unprepared, frightened and desperate, the boys become increasingly involved in criminal activity until disaster hits. The situation deteriorates with horrendous consequences, but somehow artistic Mann finds a way to a redemption of sorts. Gripping and troubling, Flake paints a provocative picture of teens struggling to deal with a world that is out of control and without adults capable of providing help. Powerful—and disturbing. (Fiction. YA)
