Fireball

In this tense coming of age novel, the story opens at the end of an intensely hot summer in Vancouver as Chris, a complex and misunderstood youth, has just driven a stolen police car through a road block and over a cliff to his death. Unraveling the events that lead to such a death, the novel traces the lives of four teenagers and the months that will come to define their future. Hailed as heroes for saving a drowning woman, boys soon attract unwanted attention as minor celebrities and, as the weeks go by, the public admiration is replaced with envy--and then harassment--until the pressure builds to the final fiery climax. Darkly comic and cinematic in tone, this dramatic debut novel captures the spirit of spent youth.