The End of Summer

A daring portrait of a grief-stricken boy on the edge of madness, this first novel focuses on 12-year-old Ohio farm boy Nick Harper as he copes with anger, sorrow and hallucinations after his father dies when his truck skids off an icy road. Overwhelmed by the tragedy, Nick converses with the spirits of Erie Indians in an ancient burial ground they are said to haunt; these ghostly voices--which he later realizes are his own projections--tell of their tribe's genocidal extermination. Sinking deeper into fantasy, Nick spends months in the woods secretly conversing with a voice speaking from a puddle about the inevitability of death, the redeeming power of love, the interconnectedness of all life. Nick's mother, we learn, survived the crash but is comatose with grief, so his reclusive, alcoholic Aunt Justine has come to live with him. She informs Nick about his father's hippie past. Nick's cold psychologist urges him to let go of the voices, but this happens only in the shocking surprise ending, which brings a healing catharsis. This politically correct fable constantly manipulates the reader's emotions, yet as a precocious youth's exploration of whether life has meaning and of why good people suffer and die, it is sometimes piercingly moving. Audio rights to Simon & Schuster; film rights optioned by Paramount. (July)