Books for young adults are starting
to struggle with the problem of high school violence and murder, following the tragedy
of Columbine. Breaking Point tells
the story of Paul Richmond, newly arrived at another high school. His parents have divorced, his mother is
needy and miserable, his father wants nothing to do with him, he doesn’t have
enough money to buy fashionable clothes or have his own car, and he is
unpopular. Eventually he is befriended
by Charlie Goode and Charlie’s circle of wealthy friends, but at a price. Paul’s new friend is manipulative and
sociopathic, and it is clear that Charlie is only using Paul. But Paul does not realize this until far too
late.

As a
morality tale, Breaking Point is rather predictable and the
characterization is unconvincing. The
themes are important ones – the disintegration of the family, the materialism
and cliquishness of high school students, the ease of finding instructions on
the Internet on how to build bombs, the hypocrisy of organized religion – but
the idea that Paul is unwittingly led into criminal activity by the nefarious
Charlie Goode (who, like the girlfriend-beating hero of Flinn’s previous book, Breathing
Underwater, has an overbearing and demanding father) fails to ring
true. The story is fast-paced and
competently written, but it is somewhat unsatisfying. The unabridged
audiobook is read well by Jason Harris.

© 2002 Christian Perring. First Serial Rights.

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is
Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island. He is
editor of Metapsychology Online Review. His main research is on
philosophical issues in psychiatry. He is especially interested in exploring
how philosophers can play a greater role in public life, and he is keen to help
foster communication between philosophers, mental health professionals, and the
general public.

Categories: Children, ChildhoodDisorders