Glass Boys

In her fourth novel (after The Seary Line), Lundrigan crafts two families who, over two generations, are linked by secrets and bloodshed in small-town Knife%E2%80%99s Point, Newfoundland. When Eli Fagan discovers a pickle jar filled with lewd pictures of a young boy taken by his 11-year-old stepson, Garrett, he attacks him in outrage and accidentally kills a neighboring man, Roy Trench, who tries to intervene. Years later, Roy%E2%80%99s brother Lewis and his family still live alongside the Fagans, although Lewis%E2%80%99 two sons know nothing of Garrett%E2%80%99s secret or the history between the Trenches and the Fagans. Garrett has grown into a disturbed man who haunts the woods near the town%E2%80%99s elementary school and beach looking for young boys, drawn to the impressionable "odd one out" with his "innocence of dirty finger nails." When Lewis%E2%80%99 sons, Melvin and Toby, find themselves in a tense confrontation with Garrett, the violent past shared between the families threatens to repeat itself. Through the darkness, Lundigran tenderly creates moments of hope for her characters, like the budding romance between Toby and the Fagans%E2%80%99 youngest daughter, Angie, that suggests the two can escape the history ensnaring their families. Lundigran%E2%80%99s characters are fully alive%E2%80%94nuanced and flawed%E2%80%94drawing readers into their plight in this rich, evocative novel. (Sept.)