Spiral Bound Brother

Book excerpt: Craft, 47, has always craved the comfort of his role as the eccentric English teacher at Earhart High in the suburbs of St. Louis. But now he finds himself in the school s library, suffering a mysterious mental paralysis that won t allow him to stop reading The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Lila, 21, has a holiday-break rendezvous planned with her old mentor, Craft. Actually, Lila has many plans and they re not all nice. She s feeling more than a little betrayed and bewildered after discovering that her father is not the man her mother always said. In fact, he kills people. Duke, 17, is a high-school dropout working in the bowels of Disney World. In his room before dawn, he stuffs essentials into a backpack, preparing to leave home for the first time. It s news to him, but he has this (disturbed?) sister, Lila, and she wants him to come to L.A. to meet her. The altered reality Craft and these lost-and-found siblings inhabit propels them on separate journeys across America. In a landscape of angels and mirrors, allies and adversaries, Craft, Lila, and Duke converge to expose the man whose life of violence connects them. Will they find wholeness, justice, and love? Or is it all an invitation to unleash demons best left asleep? ,