High-school junior Kevin Windor leads the most normal of lives, until the day his father is arrested for a particularly brutal series of murders. The evidence—he was caught climbing out the window of a victim—is strong. Kevin and his mother are taken by surprise; except for a dysfunctional relationship with his own parents, Greg Windor seemed like a decent man. At first, Kevin staunchly defends his father, but when DNA evidence provides additional proof of guilt, he loses faith in him. Kevin’s first-person narrative mostly rings true but never completely captures the full horror of the situation, as friends turns their backs on him and he lashes out at others in anger and frustration, and begins to question his relationships with everyone else he knows. Although the surprising conclusion seems a little contrived after the believable realism of the rest of the tale, this is still a fast-paced and sometimes disturbing look at families and violent crime and its many victims, seen and unseen. (Fiction. 12 & up)
