At 14, Jack is already resolved to be an agent of justice, even after seeing how ambiguous the aftermath can be. (In Secret Circles, Jack put a halt to one family’s domestic violence; but afterwards, for the wife and child, the public stigma was almost as hard to endure as the beatings had been.) This time it’s Jack’s own best friend Weezy who suffers. When Carson Toliver, the high school football hero, assaults Weezy, and then lies to damage her reputation and safeguard his own, Jack is furious.

Jack sets out to ruin Carson’s school idol status, determined that no one will admire him enough to remember his slander against Weezy. With caution, planning, a good grasp of the laws of physics, mechanical aptitude, and the sacrifice of sleeping hours, Jack begins to turn the tide of popularity against Carson.

He receives some crucial help from two other students, Levi and Saree, “piney” kids, who are generally social pariahs. Oddly enough, if you listen to them, as Jack does, instead of disparaging their poverty, they have valuable insight to share.

Jack’s character gets profoundly tested at several turns. Saree’s psychic abilities, for example, challenge his assumptions about what can be known, and how. Temptations and offers are set before him, including the insidious temptation of telling, oh, just a select, few people what he has done, so that he can enjoy their admiration or gratitude. As Kipling wrote, “Virtue springs from iron within, not lead without.” There is certainly steel in Jack’s soul, intertwined, I think, with gold; and assuredly he is not one to follow where the human herd is lead. But even Jack needs a bit of tempering. In one scene he takes a lesson in moral behavior from his mother. This scene is all the more poignant if you know what is going to happen to her in about two years.

There’s more. Ever wonder how adult Jack established that peculiar degree of trust with Abraham Grossman of Isher Sporting Goods? Jack would be unable to function as a Repairman if it weren’t for Abe. So, how did that friendship begin? Here’s a hint: not as friends. Remember what I said about getting tested? “Thursday, Chapter 6” describes their first encounter. In addition, there is a wonderful backstory on why Jack’s mother calls him her “miracle boy.” We also see more of Walt, the Viet Nam veteran who can heal with the touch of his hand at a terrible price to himself, and the ubiquitous Mrs. Clevenger, who drops cryptic remarks and whose three-legged dog has powers that put Walt’s in the shade. If you consult the author’s website, you can find which of his other writings feature these characters.

Jack is being groomed for a strange and lonely destiny, and such things usually do not bode well for friends, lovers, and relations. Typically, they die spectacularly to motivate the hero, or to free him from distractions and restraints. Jack, however, already cultivates a Buddha-like non-attachment that, to some extent, obviates the need for the literal deaths that so often are the prerequisite of the western hero’s apotheosis. I’m looking forward to upcoming publications of both The Dark at the End and the revised Nightworld. ~~ Chris Paige