Act of Violence

On a quiet evening in the quiet English town of Deerton, violence erupts when four boys invade the home of schoolmate Barry Noakes, where Barry and three other friends (Jamie, Peter and Greg ) are settling in for a night of videos and pizza. As the ruffians begin trashing the house, Jamie runs to a neighbor, Daniel Stewart, for help. The melee spreads outside; Jamie is cut and the helpful neighbor is killed. Out of fear of retaliation, none of the four innocent boys dares to ""grass on"" (implicate) the troublemakers. Woven into the narrative is the first-person account of a woman who murdered the wife of her lover years ago, served time and has since put herself in practice as a counselor. Acceptance of responsibility, the destructiveness of secrets and the aftermath of tragedy are the themes of this absorbing novel by the prolific Yorke (Death on Account, etc.), former chair of Britain's Crime Writers Association. The tension leading to the young toughs' arrest is taut, and the identity of the murderess-turned-counselor kept cleverly obscured until the very end. (Aug.)