Counterfeit Son (YA)

Alphin, Elaine Marie. 2000. Counterfeit Son. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 180 pages.

He chose the Lacey family at first because of the sailboats.

This was completely an impulsive read. There was no urgency in getting to it. It's not a new book. (Though I believe it is soon to be reprinted soon in paperback by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. January 2010, according to B&N.) But the moment I picked it up, the moment I read the first page, I just had to keep reading this one. It was so very readable, so very compelling. Which--just so you know--was so unexpected, because this is not a book in my comfort zone, this genre is not one I usually read. At all. And yet for some reason, it grabbed my attention from the start.

Long story short, I was surprised by this one. And I definitely recommend it! It is the 2001 winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Mystery.

What is it about? It's about a son who hates his father. With good reason. Cameron, our narrator, is a young boy--fourteen, I think--who has been through so much. His father, a man he calls Pop, is a serial killer and child abuser. But there is light, there is hope. Now that his father is dead--killed in a police raid--Cameron sees his chance. He wants a new life, a real life. By claiming to be someone he's not, by pretending to be one of the victims, Neil Lacey. But will this plan work? Or will his past catch up with him?

You can read an excerpt here.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Vast Fields of Ordinary (YA)

Burd, Nick. 2009. The Vast Fields of Ordinary. Penguin. (Dial). 309 pages.

I spent a good part of my senior prom drawing DH +PS in a giant heart in the last stall of the Cedarville High boys' bathroom. It covered the entire wall and took two red markers and almost an hour to complete.

Dade Hamilton's prom isn't going all that well. You see, his boyfriend, Pablo Soto, is there with his girlfriend. Yes, Pablo, Dade's lover, has a serious girlfriend. A bit ironic, in a way, that Pablo the one who's so firmly in the closet, was the aggressor in the relationship, the initiator of the affair. What is clear to the reader--though not necessarily to Dade--is that this "relationship" is only about the sex (and power), and it's more than a little unhealthy. Pablo is seriously bad news. Fortunately, a better guy is just around the corner for Dade. The summer after graduation he meets Alex Kincaid. And in this first 'real' relationship, Dade begins to better understand what love is all about. But his past--Dade's past--keeps intruding into the present. Pablo is a bitter ex. A serious manipulator. And Dade isn't finding him so easy to ignore. Even if he can avoid falling back into Pablo's bed, he can't so easily stop thinking about him.

What did I like about this one? I liked the healthier choice, Alex.

What didn't I like about this one? Pablo. There's something dark and twisted about Pablo and his relationship with Dade. And Dade has problems recognizing this clearly. And I'm not sure how I feel about it that it takes Dade meeting Alex and realizing that there are other guys out there to love that makes him realize that he's worth more than that. That it takes an Alex for Dade to realize that Pablo is wrong for him. If he'd never met Alex, would he have stuck with Pablo? If Alex had been straight, if he'd not been interested in Dade, would Dade still be taking abuse from Pablo?

I think Dade has other issues as well. He's not a particularly nice guy. He's a bit selfish and short-sighted. A bit me-me-me. He's not so considerate of others. He doesn't like being picked on, but he likes to pick on others. He wants people to treat him with respect and dignity, but he's not above using and abusing others. I didn't like the way Dade treated others. There were places he was meaner that I wanted him to be. Is this authentic? Yes and no. Dade's being selfish and inconsiderate doesn't make him unique, it just makes him human. Okay, it makes him a bit immature, and you keep hoping he'll grow out of it and realize it. But no one's perfect.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews