Blank Confession -- Pete Hautman
About 30 pages into Blank Confession, I started wondering if I'd read it before. Eventually, I decided that I was just flashing back to Robert Cormier's The Rag and Bone Shop.* That isn't a knock against this book—they've got similar set-ups, but they're different animals—it's a reminder of what a force Cormier was (and his writing still is).
Anyway.
Five minutes before Detective George Rawls' shift ends, sixteen-year-old Shayne Blank walks into the station and confesses to murder. After taking a good look at the kid's face, Rawls knows that there's absolutely no way he's going to make it home for dinner.
The story alternates between two voices: The present is, er, presented in third person narrative, and follows Rawls as he tries to get the story out of Shayne. Meanwhile, the ever-fabulous Miguel "Mikey" Martin gives us his take on what happened:
I have noticed that most short guys (I am the shortest guy in the eleventh grade) adopt one of two strategies. Some, like Chris Rock, or Prince, or Napoleon, have these enormous, noisy egos and make up for their lack of size by dressing and talking big. Others just try not to get stepped on. This is also true of small dogs, which tend to be either world-class barkers or world-class slinkers.
I do it all. I dress big, I bark, and I slink.
Loved him. I never really got to know Shayne—no one does—but I loved Mikey. And really, it's more Mikey and Rawls' story than Shayne's anyway: While certainly deserving of his own story, in this one, Shayne serves more as the catalyst for the growth of other characters than anything else.
Recommended to those who like crime stories, Gail Giles' suspense novels, or writing that is spare and taut. Also recommended to those who are intrigued by the idea of an older, grittier Maniac Magee who combats meth heads instead of racism.
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*And when I say flashing back, I mean flashing back. Cormier's books are so devastatingly memorable.
**Though I admit to almost immediately picturing him as Ryan Atwood.
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Blank Confession: Amazon | Indiebound
The Rag and Bone Shop: Amazon | Indiebound
Maniac Magee: Amazon | Indiebound
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Book source: ILLed through my library.