I read this book in a few short hours….I cried and cried. That was my warning to you. I am a mother of four boys, and my husband and I are trying raise them to be kind. Just like the parents in this book. Jake is a quiet, reflective, smart boy. He appears almost antisocial to others, but his father understands him. They have this incredible relationship….enviable. Immediately in the story, we discover there has been a shooting at the high school. Parents rush the school to learn that 13 students have been killed. A shooter is dead. Jake’s father waits to learn the fate of his son….he is the last to learn. Jake is missing, and he is believed to be the second shooter.
Jake’s father, Simon Connolly, has been a stay-at-home dad since his two children were wee little. He has kept Jake from play dates because he has never been comfortable spending afternoons with mothers of other children. He feels he is to blame for his son’s introverted behaviors, and in a way for the tragic events at the high school. It was Jake who had befriended the troubled boy who would later become the shooter in the school. It was Jake who chose to hang out with him when everyone else in town thought he was strange, weird. It was Jake who showed kindness, friendship, and empathy to this young boy who was not kind to others. And now thirteen children are dead and Jake is a suspect, but Jake is missing. Simon will do all he can to find his son….no matter what he did.
A story that touched my heart and made me see things a bit differently.
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