Incident at Loring Groves

Levitin creates an ordinary suburban world populated by typical teenagers. Cassidy Keaton knows how to play by the rules; then following a thought-provoking experience at summer camp, she's no longer confident that the rules are always right. Her new boyfriend Ken is on the fast-track to high-school stardom, pushed by an ambitious father. Ken, too, is discovering that he may want different things for himself. At a party gone wild, Cassidy, Ken and their friends stumble upon the body of a long-missing acquaintance. Because they had broken into an empty cabin, and were using marijuana and alcohol, they take a vow of silence and pretend they never saw the body. But both Cassidy and Ken are torn apart by this inaction. The point-of-view is consistently portrayed from these adolescents' perspectives: they are hard on their struggling parents; their thinking does not always follow through to logical consequences. A grim, gritty novel that closes on a bitterly ironic note, Incident at Loring Groves is a searingly honest portrayal of adolescent society. Ages 12-up. (May)