You can’t believe how scary this book can be, especially if you have children of your own. The eponymous boy of many names in Naeem Murr‘s disturbingly effective debut novel is a complicated, unpredictable, wholly unreliable protagonist. He’s a hero to his fellow orphan boys and street children. He’s an angel to the orphanage matron who worships him. He’s a savior and reason for living to the fat man he sometimes lives with. He’s a monster to the foster family that took him in, a family which he charmed, seduced, then destroyed.
Now completely alone, Sean Hennessy, the father of the foster family, is determined to track down the boy he knows as Pierce (aptly named). Not only for answers to what happened, but because he’s convinced that Pierce is also his illegitimate son and, as twisted and destructive as he is, Sean’s last blood-ties to this world. The chase is on for the elusive boy, and everyone has a different story to tell …
Tidbit: Murr was a delighfully erudite and entertaining guest at SALTAF 2008 (South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival), a much-anticipated, highly-attended annual fall event sponsored by the Smithsonian APA Program and NetSAP-DC.
Readers: Adult
Published: 1998 (United States)
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