The Rag and Bone Shop - Hardcover

Robert Cormier

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786238739 ISBN 13: 9780786238736

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2002

Synopsis

A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books 2001 Nominee

A seven-year-old girl is brutally murdered. A twelve-year-old boy named Jason was the last person to see her alive -- except, of course, for the killer. Unless Jason is the killer. It's a high-profile case, and everyone wants answers, including an influential senator. So the police call in an expert interrogator, a man named Trent, a man with a stellar reputation: He always gets a confession. When Jason and Trent come face to face, the truth will come out. That's what an interrogation is for, to bring out the truth. Or is it?

About this title

Review

This final novel from the grand master of young-adult fiction is one last jewel in the literary crown of Robert Cormier, who died in November 2000. In it he continues to explore the themes that are so characteristic of his work: guilt and forgiveness, misuse of authority, and the corruption of innocence. But a new book from Cormier is always a surprise, and here he gives us a brilliant evocation of the detective story, in a narrative that centers on the interrogation of a murder suspect.

A 7-year-old girl has been battered to death, and there are no suspects, no leads. The police, under political pressure to make an arrest, bring in Trent, a cold, ambitious professional interrogator who prides himself on his ability to extract confessions. His victim is 12-year-old Jason--the last person to see the girl. We know that Jason is innocent, and halfway through the interrogation Trent realizes it, too, in "a blazing moment." But like a medieval torturer, his goal is confession, not truth, and so he stifles his impulses for good and proceeds with the job, with deeply ironic consequences.

The interrogation itself, which forms the centerpiece of the novel, is dazzling in its elegant thrust-and-parry, its subtle twists and turns, as Jason frantically tries to escape, like a mouse caged with a python. The point of view snaps back and forth so that we are intensely aware of the shifting emotions of both participants in the deadly game. And once again, Cormier has given us an ending that seems provocative and uncomfortable--until we remember that the center of his moral universe was always summed up by the words "if only." (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

From the Inside Flap

Twelve-year old Jason is accused of the brutal murder of a young girl. Is he innocent or guilty? The shocked town calls on an interrogator with a stellar reputation: he always gets a confession. The confrontation between Jason and his interrogator forms the chilling climax of this terrifying look at what can happen when the pursuit of justice becomes a personal crusade for victory at any cost.

"From the Hardcover edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0786238739
• ISBN 13: 9780786238736
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 151