Swallowing Stones

Michael fires his new rifle into the air on July Fourth, nev­er imag­in­ing that his bul­let will end up killing a man named Char­lie Ward. So begins this taut dra­ma of Michael MacKen­zie and of Char­lie Ward’s daugh­ter, Jen­na, as the two teenagers react to the tragedy.

Mourn­ful Jen­na tries to under­stand why she no longer feels com­fort­able with her boyfriend and why a near stranger named Michael has begun to appear in her dreams. Michael digs a grave for the rifle but finds that he can’t bury his guilt. And the longer he hides the truth, the more peo­ple in his life he seems to hurt. Mean­while, the police are nar­row­ing in.

This potent nov­el is at once sus­pense­ful, wise, and pow­er­ful­ly moving.