The Keepers of Truth.

London, UK Phoenix House, 2000. Hardcover First Ed UK, later printing. Very Good+ in Fine DJ: Book shows a little spine lean, but the binding remains perfectly secure; text clean. DJ is flawless; price unclipped; mylar-protected. As New. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo.297pp. First Ed UK, later printing. Hardback with DJ. Beautifully written with very real people and scenes of harrowing behavior by otherwise ordinary people. The elevation of suspected murderer Ronny Lawton to local folk hero at Denny's, where he becomes employee of the month as a result of his sudden popularity among the high school crowd is frightening in the depth of its truth. Bill, the young narrator, is a lost, desperately lonely man whose life has become a twisted, painful thing because of an absence of familial love; a man whose grandfather was a tyrannical self-made immigrant millionaire and whose father was a suicide. Bill is brilliant, almost too aware of society deconstructing before his eyes, and a truly touching character. Engaging also is Bill's fascination with Lucas, the child of Ronny Lawton's "estranged"--as she is referred to throughout the book--with whom Bill becomes involved, almost against his will. At the end, there is the hope that Bill will rescue little Lucas from a fate too similar to his own. And that is something remarkably uplifting in a book that is so very grim. Recommended.