Endgame »

NANCY GARDEN is the acclaimed author of Annie on My Mind, one of the first young adult novels to dramatize a lesbian relationship. Her writing career has spanned numerous generations of readers. She currently lives in Massachusetts.

A new town, a new school, a new start. That's what fifteen-year-old Gray Wilton believes as he chants his mantra, It's gonna be better, gonna be better here. But things don't go as Gray had hoped. He quickly learns that there are bullies in every school, and for some reason they latch on to him his very first week at Greenford High School. Their brutal words and hurtful actions escalate, and Gray feels trapped in a world where he has no control, no support systems, no way out.

The teachers turn their heads—boys will be boys; the students laugh—glad they're not the ones being picked on; and even Gray's father is unsympathetic to his torture—you need to toughen up, son. One by one, Gray's escapes are taken away...first his beloved drums, then his dog, and finally his only friend...until Gray feels pushed beyond control. Until that fateful day when he decides that he will show them all that he's not a wuss and enters the school with his father's semi-automatic.

In the blink of an eye, lives are shattered throughout the community of Greenford because one boy was pushed to the breaking point. With power and outrage, Nancy Garden questions where to place the blame...on the students, on the teachers and administration, on the parents...and ultimately on Gray Wilton himself.

Publishers Weekly

The Wilton family left Massachusetts for Connecticut after Gray, at 14, was twice suspended from middle school for carrying a knife to fend off bullies. Despite the fresh start at a new high school, Gray is immediately sicced upon again, this time by "the jock pack," and for no reason other than that they can. As the abuse escalates and becomes life-threatening, Gray's thoughts of revenge become an obsession. There's no one to turn to-teachers who witness harassment laugh it off as "boys will be boys," and Gray's gun-loving father has instilled in his son a feeling of utter worthlessness. Though absorbing, this "anatomy of a school shooting rampage" isn't totally convincing. Garden (Annie on My Mind) structures the narrative as a series of conversations between Gray, who at 15 is awaiting trial on murder charges when the story opens, and his attorney, whose occasional interruptions feel tacked on and disrupt the flow. The characterizations of the villains and especially Gray's father feel cartoonish (at one point he nearly says he'd choose the family dog over his son's life). Even so, plenty of readers will keep going to find an ending even more tragic than expected. No one learns anything. The victimized kid gets no help. Ages 14-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.