Crash and Burn

In Hassan's gritty but ponderous first novel, ADHD sufferer Steven "Crash" Crashinsky has become a local hero, having stopped his sometimes friend David from shooting up their high school. Steven has been offered a major book deal, sans ghostwriter and with a two-month deadline, and as the apathetic student and pothead attempts to write, he reflects on his history with David over the years, as well as drugs, booze, learning disabilities, school, family, and his constant quest for sex (which often includes getting girls drunk). Over the course of 12 years, readers see abusive parents and teachers, school pranks, divorce, death, 9/11, a suicide attempt, and more. Hassan effectively conveys the numbing influence of drugs and alcohol on Steven's life and the messy social relationships of young adulthood, with a tone that blends ennui with an undercurrent of aggression. However, the most compelling and painful aspect of the novel%E2%80%94Steven's complex and sometimes sinister connection with David%E2%80%94isn't satisfactorily explored. That Steven's eventual redemption comes at the hands of another tragedy may strike readers as anticlimactic rather than profound. Ages 14%E2%80%93up. Agent: Kirby Kim, William Morris Endeavor. (Mar.)