Lost Boys

Wow. Other than the fact that I was listening to the audiobook at work (very repetitive work that does not require a lot of thought) and was crying at the end, it was pretty good.

Others have explained very well the nature of the book. I agree that it started a little slowly at first, but OSC's ability to carve out such detailed and interesting characters made it easy to keep reading. The foreshadowing was subtle at first, then as the book continued, built the suspense nicely. The end was a little abrupt until I immediately thought back to the previous events and realized what had been happening (a bit like at the end of The Sixth Sense). Then, of course, I cried.

I was fascinated by Card's description of everyday life in the LDS church. I don't think the book was intended in any way to be as advertisement for the LDS church. The audiobook includes a section at the end in which Card explains how the book came about. A large part of the story is autobiographical, not the supernatural or criminal aspect, of course. But a lot of Step and DeAnne's relationship and what they went through as a family originated in Card's relocating for a job with Wired magazine. In light of that fact, the story becomes intensely personal. One can see why it was so difficult for Card to write.

I'll be thinking about this one for days.

This book isn't poorly written or anything, but it's not at all comparable to the Ender's Game series or the other Orson Scott Card I am familiar with. I certainly wouldn't call it an "absorbing thriller". The indications of creepy/supernatural content given by the cover art, title, and plot synopses are all misleading. The whole story of the 'lost boys' is just background material, just a vehicle for a story which is really about a Mormon family trying to be good people... which is kind of interesting, I mean, you don't read too many books where the main characters are Mormons. Card, though, he really hits you over the head with the religious values stuff. And anyway, I felt kind of wronged, as I was expecting both a ghost story and something at least HALF as exciting as Ender's Game and its progeny.

For a better book about both family AND supernatural stuff, I recommend "Firestarter" by Stephen King.

This is an extraordinarily bad pair of books. I say "pair" because it's pretty clear that Card is shuffling two books together, neither of them very interesting, and even worse for the mix. The two books are a humdrum "We Mormons put up with so much!" novel and a lame attempt to poach in Stephen King's territory. The Mormon book is an endless blather about details of sanctimonious marriage, being members of a white, middle-class, heterosexual minority, and how wise it is for wives to obey their husbands. It's a great illustration of all that is appealing (strong community) and unappealing (exceptionalism, passive authoritarianism, close-mindedness, self-effacing smugness) about Mormonism. It encompasses such bizarre tropes as a Gentile psychiatrist (baaaad) whose only child is a dangerously psychotic Mormon convert and whose treatment of the hero's child consists of trying to "cure" him of Mormonism; a Gentile second-grade teacher who humiliates the hero's child for no discernible reason, a dangerous (Gentile) pedophile whose (Gentile) boss keeps him on because, fixated on two-year-old girls or not, he's a great programmer, and assorted other enemies of goodness.

The irony of that list just hit me. The only place I've ever lived where a teacher could get away with that kind of harassment is Utah, where Mormon teachers and students routinely gang up on Gentile kids (I can name some of the kids). I lived in SLC when a Mormon named Bishop was kidnapping and murdering young boys (including the child of an acquaintance). And while I was working at a Mormon company, I was floored when my Mormon boss decided not to fire (and prosecute) a (Mormon) employee who was skimming funds off his projects, having an affair with an employee, and trading contract work for sexual favors, because he was "bringing in good money." So spare me, Orson. As our hero observes about some Gentile abuse of him, "We all expect other people to do the things we would do if we could get away with it."

So that's the "Mormon book." As for the horror book, it's pretty much "horror light," which is amazing when you consider that this is a writer who, in his younger days, wrote a graphic sex scene between a young woman and a worm. We got your probably pedophile (Card never goes so far as to say the guy does sex things to young boys) serial killer whose identity comes straight from right field. We got infestations of bugs that apparently have nothing to do with anything except being icky (and they aren't even very icky bugs -- crickets, gnats, and June bugs -- no palmetto bugs, spiders, or centipedes. In South Carolina.). We got manifestations of nastiness that smack (ever so mildly) of the kinds of manic evil that breaks out intermittently in Derry, Maine (at least until King burned the town down in It), but it all turns out to just be the way Gentiles (and your rare female Mormon) are. We get a key character who just becomes dead so his spirit can expose the killer. It's not even clear how he became dead. Nobody in the book can tell the difference between when he's dead and when he's not, actually. And no, I did not make that up. The whole "pedophile serial killer" plot doesn't even emerge until the last couple of chapters, and it is resolved with a bit of sanctimoniousness that would be saccharine if it were not utterly unbelievable. I'll spare you spoilers, but if you read this book, that's your problem.

It must be said, by the way, that the sexism of the book is wonderfully overt. The psychiatrist is incidentally a woman. The teacher is incidentally a woman. The only bad Mormon is... but you can finish that sentence. And all three are put in their places by our hero (incidentally a man). The hero incidentally does a great job of keeping his wife in line. His wife is a pathological obsessive whiner he calls "Fish Lady." She calls him "Junk Man," by the way, and there is no question that neither of them intends the creepy sexual innuendo. Women, in a word, are nice to have around as long as they know their place, and they smell a little like fish.

The most interesting thing about this book is a completely different mystery. Card has done some good work in imagined worlds; I love Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and the Alvin Maker books. Here he has grafted an embarrassingly autobiographical novel onto an embarrassingly bad horror novel (the cross breeding raises the question, How must it feel when your dad writes a novel in which having you die is just fine?), and the result is only interesting because it was written at pretty much about the same time in Card's career that he announced he was "a changed man." Boy was he ever, and the mystery -- frankly none of our business -- is why? Suddenly he is a preachy, hate-filled apologist for a religion that defines itself around hatreds ("Gentiles hate us because they are so hateful, but it's Ok because they'll burn in Hell unless we do their Temple work").

The mess of pottage Card got for his soul may be substantial in Heaven, but here on Earth it's looks like apples of Sodom.

First things first, if your expecting vintage Card here, you will be sorely disappointed. Ender's Game fans will probably feel quite a bit out of place.
As I read this book I kept waiting for something "Cardish" to happen but nothing EVER did. That was my own mistake, but the truth is that the storey is pretty good and the subplots are quite enjoyable although I thought many of them were left hanging so as to wrap up the main plot which was frankly anti-climactic.
Still the book is worth reading if nothing other then the various subplots. Just don't expect anything more then that and you won't be disappointed.

Lost Boys invoked a deeply emotional response. I listened to the unabridged audio-book and several times I had to stop what I was doing because I had such a strong emotional response to the story.

Lost Boys is a good story but it is very different from any of OSC's other books. For one the "Lost Boys" part of the story was not really the main focus of the book, instead OSC wrote a fictionalized autobiography with all the triumphs and tragedies that come with a real life.

I think this is possibly the best-written book Card has done, and I don't think enough people appreciate that. I first heard a reading of the original short-story version of this novel and it kept me awake nights for weeks thinking about it: This is one of those rare stories that does that.
This is not a hard-core horror novel. It's about a family in their everyday struggles against evil. For Mormons, it holds a deeper lesson about learning how God really communicates to people, but you by no means need to Mormon to enjoy it. This book showed me that my marriage and family relations were normal.
One of Card's strengths is his characterization. He is the only male author I've found that writes believable female characters that other women can identify with. He understands that children are also people with fully developed personalities. The children in this novel are just as real as the adults.
Even in Card's descriptions of everyday life, I found it hard to put this book down. Read it -- it may permanently change your life.

To be fair those who criticized this book for being an "unscary" horror novel got it wrong. This is (partly) a ghost story, not a horror story, the distinction being that ghost stories are not necessarily scary. Think Oscar Wilde's "Canterville Ghost", Patrick Swayze in the movie Ghost, or even Casper! OSC is a very talented writer. Unfortunately his talent is a little misused here because the novel seems to be all over the place with no real focus. There are so many subplots I had no idea what the main plot is supposed to be until near the end of the novel. Most of the time it is a family drama with just a wee bit of supernatural element thrown in. However, his writing is so good that I had to keep reading just to see where he is going with this story. By the end of the book I did not feel like I have wasted my time, but the book is very below par by his standard.

Lost Boys is everything most of these reviews have said, "disturbing" being one of the most precise descriptions. Originally published as a short story, Lost Boys stumbles somewhat (actually very little) in being fleshed out as a novel. However, my wife read this book and could not stop sobbing for many minutes after she had finished it. I had recommended it to her and she hated me for days afterwards. This is a powerful story and will evoke strong emotions. I have to laugh at those who have written that Lost Boys doesn't have a happy ending; sorry, but life doesn't always (and very seldom actually does) have a happy ending. That it would make someone want to throw it in the trash is actually praise for a novel; strong emotional responses are what good writing is all about. Orson Scott Card is a storyteller virtually unparalleled in modern fiction. If you look at the breadth and scope of his writings, from Ender's Game to Alvin Maker to his Women of Genesis series, you cannot fail to recognize his talent. Even in stories such as Enchantment, a decidedly "non-OSC" type of story, you simply have to acknowledge the pure storytelling abilities of Mr. Card. I highly recommend most everything he has written, with The Worthing Saga as one of my favorites, and one of his most thought-provoking.

Years ago I read a collection of short stories by Card, and one of them was a very creepy and enchanting story about these same lost boys. The short story was good, so I thought the book would offer even more. I was wrong. Card should never have made this story into a full book. As a short story it left you wanting more, but just a few chapters into the book and I was wanting much less. The book rambles on and on about tangential topics that have no bearing on the real story, and the only interesting story (about the boys) is undertold. Its a great story, but Card gives us so little about it that it lacks any thrill. Even some good ol' King gore, mind candy that it is, would have been a welcome contrast to the daily chores of the Fletcher-do-rights. There is no horror, there is no mystery, there is no substance. I kept thinking Card was trying to be King with his overextended development, but the characters didn't even develop. They started out as model Mormons and didn't seem to learn anything from their misfortunes and bad choices. I couldn't believe that such a great author could turn out such dribble. If you still must read this book, read the first 2 chapters and the last 2 chapters and save yourself some frustration. Or better yet, just read the short story.

I've read almost everything Orson Scott Card has done, and I have to say that this is my least favorite OSC book. The extensive information on the Mormon faith, relatively mundane subject matter, and slow pace didn't particularly bother me - Card has a real gift for creating characters with depth, and even if (as another reviewer mentioned) the book reads like "a boring person describing their day", it normally wouldn't matter, because I'd have been hooked by Card's characters on page 3 or so. Not so here. All the characters are very straightforward, and it's a real struggle to really care what they're doing or thinking. The book (except for the supernatural side plot) is obviously written a clef, and the OSC character can't hold my attention as the protagonist - his only real failing seems to be a penchant for eating dinner from a snack machine. Perfect (or near-perfect) characters don't leave us much to care about, eh? There are also none of the trademark OSC moral dilemmas here to ponder - characters are pretty obviously good or bad, and stay that way throughout. The moral ambiguity and tough choices faced by the heroes of other OSC works are absent here.

But here's the bottom line. 80 percent of this book is about a Mormon family moving to a new town and struggling with money, schooling their children, and dealing with their faith among both Mormons and non-Mormons in their new home. It's not a particularly compelling story, and it's not that well written. It seems like a half-finished project that OSC abandoned after realizing the autobiographical angle and subject matter weren't working. The remaining 20 percent of the book is a supernatural murder mystery which suffers from serious problems of continuity and a lack of any discernable internal logic. It reads like an abandoned short story or novella project. I would hazard a guess that this book was the product of some creative editing and minor rewriting in order to give both parts a bit more of what they lacked. The effort falls flat, unfortunately, and I was left scratching my head as to why the book existed at all.

On a positive note, I learned a lot of interesting tidbits about Mormonism. I actually felt the discussions of ward activities and internal politics was the most interesting part of the book.

I finished reading this book last night and it has affected me so strongly that I feel the need to express my thoughts about it. If you read the back cover of the book, it leads you to believe that this book is a thriller. It isn't. This book is about the relationships that matter most in the world. God, family and church. Card brings the Fletchers to life so brilliantly that I almost feel that I know them personally. Their struggles, their joys and their ultimate sorrow that left me crying my eyes out for an hour. Yes, there are some tense moments, and even though this book has a shocking ending, it is the characters that propel the plot. Since I am Mormon, I understood a lot of the terminology and culture that surround the main characters in this book, but I think that Card explains the theology enough for anyone to understand it.
Read this book. It is beautiful. It will leave you with a better perspective of the blessings you have in life.

I read this book mulitiple times. The way Card writes his characters as living breathing beings is wonderful. He doesn't just slap together a one dimensional character. The story moves rather slowly, but once you truly emerse yourself, it picks up. I was very shocked by the ending, but was overall pleased with the story and plotline. It isn't a happy story where everyone lives happily ever after, but then life isn't like that either.

I was probably about twelve years old when I found this book at a beach house where we were staying. It fascinated me and I was soon addicted to reading it. Then a hurricane threatened the shore and we had to leave. My grandmother allowed me to take the book so that I could finish it. That was many years ago, but the book and its story is still fresh in my mind. In fact, I still vividly remember the line "I showed them how" and it still brings tears to my eyes. This book is disturbing without being overly strange and scary without being mundane. Orson Scott Card writes incredibly well.

I've been complaining for DAYS, why all this detail around daily life, work, marriage, neighbors ? On & on. Gees, Get to the action, when are we gonna get to the suspense? Hundreds if pages & I'm still waiting. Well, patience my pretty. You won't see it coming!

Original review: "Having recently moved from Utah to the south to start a new programming job when I bought this book, it was hard not to look over my shoulder while reading. I even had to stop and count my kids every so often and snuggle closer to my sleeping wife. After more than a year this book still gives me pause."

Update: "I'm older now, soon to be a grandpa. I recently attempted to read this book again. I was shocked by 'adult content' and tossed the book. Back when I read the book I was more tolerant of such content. Notwithstanding this caveat, I still give it five stars."

Card first entranced me with his tales at age eight, when I first read several of his short stories in Maps in a Mirror. I grew to be a loyal Card fan after reading Ender's Game and Songmaster. However, in seventh grade, I was unprepared to be thrust into a my own time period upon picking up this novel.
The Lost Boys, more than any of Card's previous novels, has hit truly home to me. This novel deals with very mature issues especially in regards to children, the two major being the molestation and murder of children (Don't worry, this is not graphic...Card lets your imagination conjure the images for you).
Strangely enough, it is not those themes that affected me most strongely. Two main events stick out in my mind.
1. The teacher who hated Stevie, and the students who tormented him. Every time I read or even think of these parts of the novel, it strikes a chord.
2. The loss of a child, and the way the family deals with it.
This story, while not having the gore and shocks of a conventional horror novel, is indeed one of the most horrific novels I have ever read.
While this book is not one of my favorites, I bestow a five star rating because it is not often that a book produces such intense emptions within me. Any book that can do that is worthy of five stars.

I have never been so profoundly affected by a book before in my life. Each member of this Mormon family comes alive and Card makes you love each one of them. I read chapters of this book while holding my breath between pages! The book captures the evils that we all encounter in our everyday lives. I worried about the oldest son, Stevie, when he went to school and about the father at work every day. The book is very spiritual and I would not classify it as fantasy. The small details about the Mormon religion were fascinating and inspiried me to read a book by a former Mormon after finishing Lost Boys. The ending is unbearably sad but also uplifting. I read the last chapter with tears streaming down my face and finished the book sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn't really regain my composure the rest of the evening and the book will always remain with me. I think that parents will be especially affected by the story of this family.

I can understand why some people may not appreciate this book. It is not typical Orson Scott Card -- don't expect Ender's Game. You are also far more likely to appreciate the book if you (1) have young children, and / or (2) are a Mormon (especially a liberal Mormon). The book will connect more deeply if either of these situations applies to you. Personally, I thought the book was great. (FYI -- I listened to the unabridged audio version. It was an excellent production and was read quite nicely.)

Like the late Harry Carrey of the Chicago Cubs, I too feel excentric about a home run...esspecially this home run by Orson Scott Card. I first read OSC as a kid and haven't been able to put his books down ever since. I've read a lot of his books, but not all of them and if any of the books I haven't read are as...as...undescribable by words as this book, The Lost Boys, then I am in for a treat as are all of you. This book, although I rave about it to my peers, started off fairly slow and continued on that way for a good while as the everyday struggles of a family are charactarized in the first few hundred pages. Little do we know, however, that the entire book is giving very subtle hints as to what is actually going on...right 'under' their noses! Holy Cow! What a terrific ending to a great story. This book will most definately become a cult classic campfire spook tale told by fathers around the world...Holy Cow!

It is quite obvious that this was originally a short story. It should have stayed one. Instead, Card added 400 pages of side stories that never tied into the main plot line. Read the last 50 pages and skip the rest. I understand that there are many people who praised this book and I can only assume that they share Card's faith and enjoyed the detailed description of life as a Mormon. But if you pick up the book, read the synopsis on the back and buy it based on that you'll be fooled as 90% of the pages are unrelated to the "main" story. I kept getting angry as the story went no where until the last few pages. Skip it.

If you're thinking about reading this book because you love Orson Scott Card's science fiction stories you can stop right now. The other-worldly computer game is a very, very minor part of the book. If you're thinking about reading this book because you love the moral and idealogical dilemmas Orson Scott Card weaves into his novels, you can stop right now. There are no ambiguities to contemplate here: the Fletchers are good and practically everyone else is evil. I can't believe the same person who wrote this also wrote "Pastwatch".

Intended as a bridge between the much-loved cult film "The Lost Boys" and its horrendous direct-to-dvd sequel "The Tribe," the first sign that "Reign of Frogs" will lean more toward the latter is the fact that both possess the same writer, Hans Rodionoff. No, the comic is not as bad as "The Tribe," not by far, but it feels almost as unnecessary.

The art is deliberately cartoonish, which is not without its charms and certainly fits the tongue-in-cheek tone of the book, but it is often difficult to tell the three main characters apart, even when they're standing together. The dialogue sparkles on occasion, but the story, involving Sam's Grandpa and the Widow Johnson, isn't particularly compelling. Yes, you do get to see how Alan becomes a vampire, but, sadly, it is a bit of a let-down.

If you're looking to get a bit of that sequel-induced distaste out of your mouth, this isn't a total loss. If, however, you're looking for a comedic horror romp similar to the first film, you're likely to be very disappointed.

Call me a Lost Boys junkie, but I absolutely loved reading through this comic. Even if everything's not spot on and up to code, who cares it's creative and it's well thought out and it's a whole lot better than the sequel! Which this book inevitably works it's way up to.

Any questions, inquiries you had after the movie ended are answered here. Or at least a good portion of them. Add some good Frog Brother's humor and you've got a good comic to sit down and read. I still can't stop reading it haha, which they'd made this into a movie!

Anyone who doesn't cry before they even finish this book is made of stone. I thought this boy was so unselfish and giving to sacrifice himself to find out the truth and to lead this boys back to their parents even though they were dead at least they found out what really happened to them. Also it stopped the killer from doing this to more boys.

Hits a lot of issues with strong characters. It's like watching a car wreck. You know what is going to happen but you can't stop it; except you find out you didn't know anything. If you appreciate a powerful mystery and can handle a family in pain, you will respect this story. Also, an opportunity to learn a little about the Mormon faith.

Lost Boys: written in the same addictive style with which Card immortalized Ender's Game. The characters in this book, as in all of OSC, were very impressive. The plot enthralled me. I read this on a vacation directly before reading Ender's Shadow, and yet one never gets sick of the style of OSC. Pick this one up. It's for diehard fans like myself, and those who are new to the author.

To answer people's questions, the point of this book, like all books, was to entertain.
The actual plot was done in the first and last chapters, and the rest was all filler. I still couldn't put it down though. I thought the characters were believable, and the book maintained my interest through out.

The Lost Boys is advertised as being a suspence/ horror novel the tradtion of Stephen King or Dean Koontz, instead we are treated to one of the most tedious and painfully mundane novels ever published in the modern era.

It begins predictably enough for books of the thriller genre. A family of five struggling with the everyday hum-drum ups and downs of suburban life in America. Okay, we can all relate to that right? No problem there. We spend time with the Fletcher family, getting to know them and thier problems, intimitcies, history, and daily routines.

From this point the story should take off. After we've become comfortable and familar with the Fletcher clan the author, Mr. Card, should take the reader on the wild, white knuckle, pulse racing, edge of your seat ride that we've come to love about the horror suspensce universe.

Instead the Fletchers simply shuffle about thier painfully boring lives. There's no passion, no gamble, no daring in any of them. They whine about the carpet of thier new home, worry about paying the bills, debate over who should take the eight year old to school, battle crickets that infest thier bedrooms, join the local church, the husband,Step, hates his new job and boss, Deanne the wife, obsesses neurotically over her pregnancy and annoying nieghbors.......

I'm not kidding folks, this is as exciting as it gets. The novel drifts along like a dead whale on the open ocean for over FOUR HUNDRED PAGES! Mr. Card takes the reader to a previously uncharted abyss of boredom.

Then comes the religous nonsense. The Fletchers(much like Mr. Card and his family I bet) are Mormons. They drone on tediously about the Gospel and who is or isn't rightious in their local church. Whole chapters are dedicated to who will sing in the chior or read jingoistic dogma from the bible at next Sundays service.

Then the eight year old, Stevie, begins talking to imaginary people and has problems at school. The Fletchers feel it stems from a teacher who gave him a C on a project instead of an A. So, Step decides to conduct his own investigation ala' Woodward and Bernstien to root out and uncover the corruption that has infected his sons second grade classroom.

So he confronts his sons second grade teacher with a tape recorder hidden in his shirt and interogates her with a ferocity not seen since the Spanish Inquisition, terrorizing her until she is brought to tears and nervous breakdown.

Isn't this guy a Morman? you ask. Doesn't he believe in love and compassion? You sure wouldn't know it the way the Fletchers condemn and ridicule anything and everything non Morman from pop songs to a shrink who tries to help Stevie from his various neuroses.

At page 414 something actually interesting actually occurs. A cop shows up and says little Stevie has some type of special power that allows him to communicate with chidren who have been recently abducted. The problem is, at this point in the book, I was so bored I was far beyond caring.

Look, in a nut shell let me explain this book. Lost Boys is religous xenophobia trying to pass itself off as popular fiction. The deadliest threat the free world faces today is religous extremism whether it be Christian or Islamic. This book not only promotes extremism it revels in it.

Orson Scott Card has written some enthralling novels and some very interesting short stories. He should not try to combine the two, apparently. This novel, originally a short story but now a commercial for Card's religion, just seems to scream for an editor with a shard red pencil. The father's trials with his job might have been interesting if they had anything to do with the story. Otherwise, the meat of the story seemed to fall in the last few pages. If I wanted to read a novel-length advertisement for the Mormon religion, I suppose this might be an interesting way to go about it. Very disappointing.

This is great mystery and suspense. If you like being held to the edge of your seat without gore and blood, this book will scare you and simultaneously keep you turning every page. Card writes great believable characters. Parents of you children may find this too close to home to read though.

I just finished reading and my throat is still tight and kind of choked up. You've never read a book like this. The suspense is mainly psychological but nevertheless it is hard to stop reading. It is frightening, heartbreaking, and yet beautiful.

I read Lost Boys while on my break from college. I had heard marvelous things about it, and being a big fan of Orson Scott Card, I had high expectations. I found that the book was about 300 pages too long with many useless details. In fact, there were entire chapters dedicated to these useless details. The plotline was dragged out so thinly that there were times when I would forget that there even was a plot. In fact, the tension didn't even begin to build up until the second to last chapter. I must say, I thought Enchantment to be a masterpiece while Lost Boys did not satisfy me.

I could not believe how much I enjoyed this book. I was immediately caught up in the life of the characters, who are some of the most realistically written I have come across in awhile. The strength of family under stressful situations, and the love that is always there is the fabric of this story. The ending, however, totally caught me by surprise. I walked around shell shocked for hours, and desparately wished that I had someone to talk to about the ending. It was a great ending to a great book.

The genius of Orson's Enders Game and the promotion of this book as a Scifi/Horror, led me to listen to an audio version of Lost Boys. What a disappointment! This book sends a mind numbing amount of time going over very mundane everyday activities. Mormon activities that is. Complete with magic underwear dialog.... It was as if Ned Flanders from the Simpsons decided to write a novel. Much of the dialog was outlining who was more righteous and lots of Biblical references.... This book should have been sold as a story of "an ideal Mormon family coping with living with the unrighteous" Of course, the Book Publisher knew the truth would not sell as well.... This book is well written with good character development but if you are looking for a page turning Stephen King horror novel or a mind bending SciFi plot, go elsewhere.

At the very end of the audio book, Orson speaks of what drove him to write this novel. He describes how this is really an autobiography of his life, with the places and people changed enough to make it a work of fiction. Orson is a devout Mormon and he really did have a job writing Technical manuals in North Carolina in the 80's. Also, he really did have a son with cerebral palsy at the time he wrote this book. Tragically, his son died at age seventeen.

Orson did promise that he will never again write a book so closely tied to his real life. Thank you Orson!

When I finished reading this book I was in tears. I had to tell my husband the entire plot right away. It is like waking from a dream and then needing to tell someone about it. Very powerful and fairly disturbing as well.