12-year old Nathan Bailey kills a guard in the juvenile detention center and flees, leading to a massive manhunt. He confesses his guilt on a radio talk show, hosted by Denise (a/k/a the Bitch), but claims he acted in self-defense. The local cops have no leads, as Nathan makes a run for it in a stolen car, leaving an apology for its owner and washing the sheets where he slept. Things deteriorate as additional cops are killed, and Nathan is blamed. Gilstrap's first novel: a thrill ride. ( )

Twelve year old Nathan Bailey is in a Youth Detention Center where he is repeatedly bullied by other youths and one supervisor. In a secure room alone with one that adult the supervisor, Nathan fights back and kills the man in self defense. Fearing reprisal for his action, Nathan escapes and begins his run from the law. Not knowing the circumstances behind the killing, every lawman but one believes Nathan is guilty of cold blooded murder and set out on a man hunt to bring the boy back. Lieutenant Warren Michael finds it hard to believe a twelve year old boy could commit such a crime.. Can Michaels reach Nathan before some of the lawmen with blood on their mid get to the boy first? A vey good suspenseful read. ( )

This author and book came as a recommendation from a reader of this website. Thanks! Nathan is a kid incarcerated in a juvenile detention center but he's escaped and a guard is dead. This is a great, well paced story - good characters and great plot. Great recommendation! ( )

I picked this book for my "banned book" category in my FB reading challenge. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why it was on the 100 most banned books list - until I read the author's afterward. It's his first book and because the protagonist is a 12 year old boy, he didn't want the book tagged as a young adult (this was before the Harry Potter phenom). So he filled the book with lots of objectionable language to make it more "adult". However, it was so praised that libraries & schools bought it but parents objected to their kids reading that kind of language. This edition has been cleaned up and the book now reads as an adult-young adult book.
The book is excellent - very well written with lots of action. You know from the beginning that the boy committed the killing - the rest of the story is the why and the process of the police trying to catch him and the luck he has in avoiding them.
My only complaint about the book is the often abrupt changes in perspective. Usually when the author changes from one character's viewpoint to another's, there's a triple space between paragraphs with a decorative element or a chapter change, or something. There was nothing. You're reading along from Nathan's perspective, then the next paragraph has you in the thoughts of the police captain. Very disconcerting. But that wasn't enough of a deterrent to keep me from enjoying the story. Recommended ( )

Een lekker boek om te lezen. Leest lekker weg, en voor je het weet ben je weer een uurtje verder.

Nathan, een 12-jarige jongen wordt verdacht van moord, maar zit er soms meer achter? ( )