1992: Boy's Life

Cory Mackenson is 11 years old and growing up in innocence in a picturesque small southern town during the racially torn 1960s. He and his friends enjoy bikes, baseball, and monster movies at the town cinema on Saturdays. Things change early one morning just before daylight when Cory and his Dad watch a car and its occupant careen off a lonely country road into the dark abyss of a rural lake. Upon attempting a rescue, Cory's dad finds the driver unconscious and handcuffed to the steering wheel with a wire wrapped around his neck. This launches Cory and his father on a search for the murderer who is living as a longtime respected citizen in this small rural community. Who is the man in the car, and what about the tattoo? Can a mysterious black lady who lives on the other side of the tracks in this racially tense time hold one of the keys to unraveling the mystery before it unravels the sanity of Cory's father? Why it's on the list An amazing story filled with the twists of fantasy and reality in a boy's life. What sets it apart from anything else is the unabashed presentation of fiction in lockstep with reality. This book gives you a piece of what it's like to be a boy; a sense of magic that you've always had, which you've always found valuable to hold onto. The world is amazing, even when it isn't. This book is filled with strange and creepy and scary and crazy things, and then it has this sense of wonder woven through it all. In addition to the suspense of a father and son trying to solve this mystery, Boy's Life also captures the wonder of being an eleven-year-old boy in much the same way Mark Twain did with Tom Sawyer. This book is simply a precious jewel of inspiring prose. Each of Cory's multiple adventures brings you back to the first time you experienced those things yourself Read if you like Nostalgic Fantasy, Murder Mystery