FIRST BOY

Sinister black sedans clash with rolling farmland as D.C. invades rural New Hampshire in Schmidt’s latest foray into dirty politics. Fourteen-year-old Cooper Jewett is a dairyman through and through, so when Grandpa, his last remaining relative, dies, he stoically vows to “make do.” Little does he know that his challenges will soon exceed fighting loneliness, keeping up in school and running the farm solo—indeed, that life as he knows it will be jeopardized when the cold, calculating Senator Wickham decides to use the orphaned Cooper as a tool in his bid for the presidential nomination. (Grandpa always said Wickham “should hold a pile of manure in each hand while he talked so people could plainly see what was coming out of his mouth.”) Cooper, once “clutched by the stillness of his house,” is soon catapulted into a full-blown action adventure complete with dangerous thugs, stolen cars and narrow escapes. In this suspenseful, surprisingly over-the-top novel, Cooper finds out who he is and what he’s made of through a dizzying series of unlikely events that show him, ultimately, that love conquers all. (Fiction. 12+)