Cruise Control by Terry Trueman - Fantasy - SFBookcase.com - Reference of Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels/Authors.

Series: Shawn McDaniel
Volume: 2
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 0064473775
Pages: 160 pages
Publisher: Harper Teen
Price: 6.99
Reader Rating: Not rated

Cruise Control by Terry Trueman

Description: Terry Trueman's novel (HarperTempest, 2004) is the companion to his debut work, Stuck in Neutral (July 2002, p. 66). In Cruise Control, the story of the McDaniel family's experience with a severely disabled son is told from the viewpoint of his brother Paul, a high school senior, straight A student, and all around athlete. Andy Paris provides the first person narration in a voice that sounds genuinely adolescent, wavering between bravado and self doubt, as Paul struggles with his long-time disrespect for his father, his love and shame for Shawn, and his violent tendencies on and off the basketball court. Shawn's story, in the first novel, presented the moral uncertainty of whether Mr. McDaniel was secretly plotting Shawn's mercy killing. In this one, Paul exposes his own viewpoint concerning his lot in life as Shawn's protector. Paris does a pitch-perfect rendering of Paul when drunk, spits out the jock's scatological patter, and takes pauses that both reflect Paul's changing perceptions of himself and his family and allow listeners to digest the emotional weight of this unflinchingly realistic look into the lives of those who live with and care for an individual who exhibits no sentient signs. All the characters–from Shawn and Paul, to their mother and sister, basketball players, and a swaggering young man Paul beats up–are carefully developed in this well-orchestrated plot that will appeal to both those who wonder about the fairness of life and those usually too busy with games or ego to reflect on the effects of their own temperamental actions.