Dave Champoux

Ghost of a Boy Dave Champoux

"The most important story? You sure you want to know? The most important story from the night of the Sophomore Dance is to say exactly where you were when you first heard that a boy from the next town over had died. That was the news that spread like an airborne sickness last May 5th. All of us in our prom dresses and tuxedos, shouting from limousine windows: Did you hear it? Did you hear? Some kid from Westfield was murdered tonight." Thus ends the first chapter of "Ghost of a Boy": a high school Junior from wealthy Fairfield tells the story of the unsolved murder of Darren Aiken - a boy she's never even met. Lonely and isolated in the fake world of her high school, Catherine is drawn in by a newspaper photo of Darren. "I keep thinking about him, and it's the nicest thing I think about," she says. "I have this vision of a boy who's really cool, and I like him so much better than all these kids around me." With the help of her best friend Lyn, Catherine crosses the tracks to the rougher town of Westfield, where she finds a history of twisted secrets and a cult-like group of friends protecting the boy's troubled sister - all just three miles away. "I'm going to know him," she declares. "Who he was. What happened. How he died." "Ghost of a Boy" has rich characters, a layered story, and an insightful 1st-person storyteller. Think of "Juno" narrating Donna Tartt's "The Secret History," Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones," or Sue Monk Kidd's "The Secret Life of Bees." Check out the first pages by clicking on the "Look Inside" icon above the book cover.