Peter Holmes is a troubled teen still grieving the death of his sister. A victim of long term abuse, he escaped his parents only to find life as a foster child is another form of torture. Now living with his fourth family after a stint in juvenile detention, his view of his future is bleak until he meets Alice Culpepper and learns about the world of competitive gymnastics. But as Peter trains in the Culpepper gym and tries to get his life on track, his growing friendship with Alice threatens his new life, his foster family, and even his freedom. As if things couldn’t get any worse, his insane mother just escaped from prison…
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By William Meikle
Aug 2, 2011
A remarkable tour-de-force. This is a stream of consciousness book that takes you into the mind of a troubled person -- possibly deeper than you'd care to go, but you can't help yourself as Whitten drags you to hell along with Peter. At first I found it hard to sympathize with the character but the writing sucked me in until I couldn't stop reading. There are several places that show a need for tightening up, with word repetition in the same paragraph threatening to pull me out of the story a few times, but Peter is so strongly realized that you can't help but go along, even if sometimes the honesty and self-awareness shown in his portrayal are almost too strong to bear. Ms Whitten makes you feel for a truly damaged individual, and it's well worth sticking with it to find out where he is going. I liked it a lot.
