ILLER

by Richard Parker ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

This taut novel deals with a break from a boy's reform school in Tasmania. Mungilla, a home for delinquents, is run by a wise, humane man named McKay. He goes on leave just when Bree, a disciplinarian once partly responsible for a boy's death, takes over, and this coincides with the arrival of Butts, an irredeemable young offender of 17. In the conflict between Bree and Butts which ensues, Butts runs away, taking several of the boys with him. The boys survive many dramatic experiences in the backwoods country, but Butts is drowned, and Bree is ruined. The book is superficially exciting in its clash of characters; the setting is exotic; and there is a firm but tempered understanding of the boys. All of it is engrossingly real, and older younger readers, schooled by Lord of the Flies, will find it exciting even though it is much more of an external entertainment.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1964

Categories: FICTION