The Monster Variations

About this book

This fast-paced read will keep readers on the edge of their seats! Someone is killing boys in a small town. The murder weapon is a truck and the only protection is a curfew enacted to keep kids off the streets. But its summerand that alone is worth the risk of staying out late for James Willie and Reggie. Willie who lost his arm in the first hit-and-run attack finds it hard to keep up with his two best friends as they leave childhood behind. All of them are changing hounded by their parents hunted by the killer and haunted by the monster a dead thing that guards the dangerous gateway between youth and manhood. But thats not all: shadowing the boys everywhere is Mel Herman the mysterious and brilliant bully whose dark secrets may hold the key to their survival. As the summer burns away these forces collide and it will take compassion brains and guts for the boys to overcome their demonsand not become monsters themselves. In this chilling and poignant debut novel Daniel Kraus deftly explores the choices boys grapple with and the revelations that occur as they become men.