Matthew McGevna
Published: 2015-06-15
Total Pages: 289
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Tragedy upends a Long Island town in a crime novel that “captures the familiar rhythms of summertime, following young people on the edge of violence” (Kirkus Reviews). Turnbull is a working-class town full of weary people who struggle to make ends meet. Evictions, alcoholism, and random violence are commonplace. In the heat of July 1983, when eight-year-olds James, Dallas, and Felix leave their homes to play in the woods, they have to navigate between the potentially violent world of angry adults and even angrier teens. Little do they know that within a few short hours, one of them will lie dead, after a bit of playful bullying from older teens escalates to tragedy. Loosely based on a real crime that took place on Long Island in 1979, Little Beasts is a panorama of a poor, mostly white neighborhood surrounded by the affluent communities of the East End. After the murder, the novel’s main characters must come to grips with the aftermath, face the decisions they’ve made, and reestablish their faith in the possibility of a better world. “The reader knows one of the three will be a victim, but not which one, and we read with our hearts in our throats as we grow closer to each boy. . . . In the aftermath of that day, McGevna shows us how the brutality and tragedy of that event affect the families. . . . There will be justice, of some sort, and even redemption. But, as in real life, there is no happy ending.” —ReviewingTheEvidence.com “A gripping exploration of teenage alienation and temporary depravity.” —The East Hampton Star “All it takes is one or two characters to carry you through to the heartbreaking end—a finale that offers enough hope and redemption to equal the book’s climatic horror.” —TheCattanoogan.com “A brave, beautiful book.” —Richard Bausch, author of Before, During, After
