The Rag and Bone Shop is a truly disturbing story that is not really a young adult book at all, even though it is labeled as one. In the story, Alicia Bartlett, a precocious seven year old, is murdered. The police find no physical evidence and have no suspects, but political pressure is placed on the local police to make an arrest. Bowing to that pressure and his own insecurities, the local chief of police decides Jason Dorrant, a local teen and the last person visiting Alicia's house, must be the killer. He calls in a famous interrogator, also dealing with his own insecurities to break Jason and make him confess.

The ending of this book is truly horrific, making, Jason, an average young teen, a villain when the adults are the true villains in the story. I did not enjoy this book at all and would never want young people to read it and question their own sanity. ( )

Massachusetts police call in a Vermont interrogation specialist to see if he can get a confession out of a 12-year-old boy they suspect of killing a 7-year-old girl. Things get pretty intense when the door closes and the questioning begins. Awful dark for a book that seems targeted to a younger audience, but it does seem like something my daughter would have enjoyed when she was in middle school. ( )

Advance copy (uncorrected proof) ( )

This was a very different kind of abuse story. Another disturbing Cormier novel, but this one a quick read. I always wonder, at the end, why I did that to myself. Why am I so drawn to these, knowing before I even begin that I'm going to be disturbed and depressed as a result? I'll never look at the issue of interrogation and "confession" the same way again. Worth reading. ( )

Robert Cormier is my favourite YA author and this book is a shining example of how talented Mr Cormier is. Not exactly a tome in length, but utterly engrossing from start to finish, and leaves you completely questioning the nature of humanity. An excellent book. ( )