Sneaker Wave
978-088982-278-8 / 436pp / $22.95
Four mismatched teens. One act of violence. One nod by each of them to agree it never happened. This raucous yet poignant story of friendship, loss and long-denied regret springs to life in the dying days of high school in a seaside Pacific Northwest town. A popular resident is critically injured while confronting seventeen-year-old Brady Joseph and three friends who have broken into an abandoned house to party. Luke, a seething runaway, is suspected of attacking the man, while Sam, a gentle, imperiling opportunist, and Sarah, Brady’s wildly irrepressible girlfriend, are accused of helping Brady cover up the crime. The teens’ code of silence keeps them out of jail, yet for Brady their duplicity is not so easily accepted, especially as their lives and those of others begin unraveling in a dizzying plunge, leaving him with two choices, each one tragic. This is a story about teens doggedly pursued into adulthood by suspicion that lingers long after the media moves on to the next crime du jour. It’s a haunting journey into the gaps between right and wrong, between harmless half-truths and disastrous self-deception.
