From Publishers Weekly

This novel presents an arresting, compelling look into the heart and mind of a disaffected high school freshman. Narrator Xing Xu reels the reader in early, promising to explain his notoriety, and the story behind “the disappeared children of Prattston, New York.” He’s an outsider and the only other Asian at the school is his friend, Naomi Lee. Beset by bullies, Xing’s a loner and a misfit at an upper-middle class, all white school. A few weeks into his freshman year, high school sports star Justin Dorsey is murdered. As news of the boy’s death circulates through the school, Xing barely avoids bullies by ducking into what turns out to be the music room. The teacher assumes Xing is there to audition for the school musical and discovers that Xing has talent. He asks the boy to come to school early for coaching. School settles into a routine, winter sets in and then a second student disappears. The town is jittery and the mood turns to near hysteria when a third student, Xing’s competition for the lead role in the musical, goes missing. The author has Xing’s voice dead on, and the loneliness of the boy’s life (dead father, mother working two jobs, few adults taking an interest in his life) and his bitter demeanor makes it seem probable that he knows more than he’s telling. Xing stays one step ahead of the reader, the truth of his world kept just out of reach. --This text refers to the manuscript reviewed as a part of the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.