BILLY

Sixteen-year-old Billy's easygoing life in a small New Mexico town is disrupted when he's arrested for brawling and a routine fingerprint check reveals that he's a missing child, kidnapped at age ten by his father. Convinced by his dad that his family didn't want him or they would have tracked him down, Billy is furious when his stepfather, Dave, takes him back to Iowa without letting him say goodbye to his dad, his friends, or his girlfriend. Will, as his stepfather insists he be called, can't adjust and can't seem to please Dave. School is no better until he meets Diana, who understands his need to talk to a friend, and he begins to come to terms with his life. In spite of a rather implausible beginning, this fine coming-of-age story recalls Hinton's Tex or Crutcher's early novels. Billy/Will is a fully realized character, caught up in a confusing conflict of loyalties and at the mercy of adults and their seemingly unreasonable demands. A first novel that should find a wide audience among YAs who enjoy a good story with real depth. (Fiction. 12+)