Zane has decided to drive to Ohio and kill himself on his mother’s grave. She killed herself and left Zane with his older brother and his grandfather. Zane had been thinking about it for a while but after finding his grandfather dead, he knows he has to go through with it. He’s pretty sure he’s the reason his grandfather is dead.

As he travels along in the Barracuda his father left behind when he left the family, he picks up a hitchhiker named Libba who asks many questions. Zane has several conversations along the way with relatives that have traveled this same route hundreds of years before him. During these conversations he is able to piece together how mentally ill his mother truly was and all of the situations that may have contributed to her suicide.

The author uses several historical references that are woven in with Zane’s family history including slavery and the historical significance of the route between his house and where his mother is buried. Zane has a lot of unanswered questions about his parents and why both of them left him. He usually takes his frustrations out on his wall at home. He uses it to scribble his thoughts. His manic actions hint at the mental illness that appears to run in his family. Zane has also had to battle epilepsy, which has caused him great embarrassment since he seems to have an epileptic fit at the worst possible moments. Zane also feels like a failure due to his older brother’s apparent normalcy. He feels guilty that his brother the policeman had to move in with him and their cranky grandfather once their mother committed suicide.

The pacing of the story is fast in that all the action takes during Zane’s road trip to commit suicide and with occasional flashbacks. The verse form holds the reader’s attention. The connections some of the characters in the book have to Zane make it a bit difficult to follow. It is apparent that the majority of Zane’s issues stem from not having answers as to why he lost both parents. The circumstances surrounding his mother’s suicide and father’s disappearance eat at him every minute of the day. If he could just figure out why his parents made the decisions they did, maybe he could move on with his own life and outrun the demons that his mother couldn’t. The closer Zane gets to his mother’s grave the more he starts to figure out who he is. He may be able to piece together the bits of information he’s collecting on his journey to end it all.

This book is appropriate for ages thirteen and up. The author’s note includes historical background information on characters in the book.

© 2010 Amy Ridley

Amy Ridley received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Boston University.