As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
136 pp.
| Delacorte |
September, 1998 |
TradeISBN 0-385-32590-8$$15.95
(4)
YA
Returning to his hometown with severe facial wounds received in World War II, Francis plans to kill his childhood hero, Larry LaSalle. The first-person narrative alternates between this slow-paced plot line and a pre-war story describing LaSalle's betrayal of both Francis and his girlfriend, Nicole. Familiar Cormier themes, including the seductiveness of power and the meaning of heroism, are dutifully explored, but without much depth.