When 11 year old Danny accidentally kills his best friend and next door neighbour, his sole-parent mother Nancy, is left wondering how her bright well-behaved son could have killed Eddie.
So begins a tabloid-style recriminations, blame and guilt. Nancy blames herself for not being a better parent, Traumatised Danny holds himself responsible, along with Eddie’s father Frank, for giving Eddie the high-powered compound hunting bow that killed him. Complicating Danny’s feelings about his friend’s tragic death are his conflicting emotions regarding the affair that Frank is having with his mother. Resentment of Frank wars with the desire for a father-figure, something that has been denied him since infancy.
The prose of this novel is carefully wrought, bringing to life characters that seem to step out of today’s headlines as the resolution and absolution they seek comes tortuously to a close.
