THE SPEED OF LIGHT

"This is what we know about death, right here," Witt Dimmick says to his friends Larry and Rafferty, pointing at the burned-out remains of a TV set that was, moments ago, the stage for their latest mad-scientist experiment (trying to revive Witt's pet lizard, killed by his abusive father). It's a typically stoic musing from Witt, an odd child forced to grow up too quickly. But Larry, the story's narrator, is the fish out of water here: he is a good student from a good home, and his parents cannot understand why he spends so much time with his troubled friend. Larry, for his part, doesn't understand, either—but he is drawn to the "special chaos" that is Witt's life. The boys conduct experiments to try to make sense of their world, digging a "geothermal pit" to reach the earth's core (they quit after a few feet) and constructing a crossbow to retrieve the violin Witt's father hurled into the trees. Carlson (The Hotel Eden, for adults) divides the book into three sections, one for each month of the boys' summer exploits, and this structure is both the novel's strength and weakness. The framework emphasizes accurately the malaise of being 12 years old and not knowing what you want from life, but while individual episodes stand out here and there, the overall effect is akin to a high-minded Beavis and Butthead, minus the laughs. Ages 12-up. (June)