Caring is Creepy

February 27, 2012
In Zimmerman’s newest (after The Sandbox), 15-year-old Lynn Marie Sugrue falls into a twisted kind of love with Army specialist Logan Loy—whom she met online—in rural Georgia. Having punched a sergeant, he goes AWOL with Lynn’s help. Thinking no one will find him at her house, Logan hides in a storage space behind Lynn’s closet, and she takes care of him, finding perverse comfort in her clandestine houseguest. Meanwhile, her mother’s no-good boyfriend, Hayes, has made promises he can’t keep with folks of a bad sort, and now they’re threatening Lynn’s family and taking extreme measures to get what they want. Lynn’s relationship with Logan becomes less about romance and more about control, as she begins to say and do anything she can to keep him by her side, and Hayes’s enemies’ threats reach frightening levels. Lynn’s voice is authentically sardonic and compelling, but the ending is resolved too easily and the reasons for Lynn’s ill-treatment of Logan are unconvincing. Still, the intersections of Lynn’s and Logan’s story line with the consequences of Hayes’s shady dealings are consistently exciting.

May 1, 2012
Following his much-praised debut (The Sandbox, 2010), Zimmerman turns from war-torn Iraq to rural Georgia, where a 15-year-old girl battles for survival. Lynn Sugrue is the stuff of steel magnolias. Young as she is, you can already see the toughness, tenderness and, yes, the ruthlessness that will one day make her formidable. That, however, is the future. Now it's summer in sweltering Metter, Ga., and Lynn and her BFF, Dani, are caught between boredom and a hard place. In self-defense they invent the Game, which predictably involves computers, chat rooms, and some flagrant lying about who they are, how old they are, and how available they are for sexual adventures. Surprisingly enough, the Game nets an honest, harmless, sweet-natured young soldier named Logan Loy, more naive than is good for him. As perhaps only an adolescent can, Lynn falls helplessly in love, a plunge that results in desperate behavior that will eventually make her a stranger to herself. Meanwhile, Lynn's mom is coming to the end of a love affair with a good-looking, irresponsible, no-account who's been feckless enough to steal from a gang of vicious drug dealers willing to maim or kill anyone who gets in the way of their revenge. During the course of an excruciating night at the Sugrue house, Lynn, her mother and poor Logan all qualify. Compelling stuff from a writer who can handle difficult, sometimes grisly, material extremely well. But this coming-of-age story is not for everyone.

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February 15, 2012

In his second novel (after The Sandbox), Zimmerman presents an engrossing and unforgettable tale based on actual events. The story revolves around bored Georgia teenager Lynn and her struggling, overworked mother. Lynn's narrative voice combines the naivete of a lonely only child and the tough maturity born of her hardscrabble life. The various troubles of mother and daughter are intensified through a series of bad decisions and interactions with an often seedy cast of characters. Zimmerman skillfully creates an atmosphere of tension and impending danger brewing beneath the sweltering heat of a Georgia summer. Readers cannot help but sense disaster as the story progresses, prompting the question, "What might have happened to the characters if they had made different choices?" VERDICT Although the story's main character is a 15-year-old girl, the dark subject matter and several violent events limit the recommended audience to the mature reader. Those who can empathize with flawed characters in dire situations will not be able to put this book down.--Catherine Tingelstad, Pitt Community Coll., Greenville, NC

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