Seventeen-year-old Rad comes home to find his father lying broken and dead at the bottom of the ravine behind their house. Rad's twin brother, shaken but very much alive, had watched their father fall. Desperate to understand what has happened before calling the police, Rad confronts his brother and the complicated landscape of their past. He reconstructs not just the circumstances leading to his father's death, but the history of his family.How can a family simply disintegrate? Were they ever happy, or were the roots of unhappiness always there? What plagued his father? What plagues Rad?As the time comes to do the right thing, the question remains. Did his brother kill their father? And what will happen to the boys now?

The powerful story of a mind at the edge of unraveling, held together by love and acceptance.Nest and Q walk through the city. Nest speaks and Q listens. Mile by mile, Nest tells Q about her life, her family, her past . . . and her Chimaera, the beast that preys on her mind and causes her to lose herself. Q knows only that his love for Nest runs deeper than the demon that plagues her thoughts, that he loves her in spite of—or perhaps because of—the personal battle she fights every day.A beautifully-written, haunting story.Praise for Ten Miles One Way:"A loving but honest treatment of mental illness, these words will sing off the page and into your heart. No question: the world is a better place with Patrick Downes writing in it."—A. M. Jenkins, author of the Printz Honor Book Repossessed* "Downes subtly plumbs the depths of mental illness within the broader context of relationship and self-awareness....An intricate,...

A book that challenges the word "powerful" and obliterates it Written in searing prose, this is the story of two boys: Erik, who performs miracles, and Thorn, who hears voices. The book chronicles their lives as their minds devolve into hallucinations, and shows the way their worlds intersect, culminating in a final stand-off. This debut novel offer a raw, insightful look at the forces that compel us to act against our will. Even more so, it captivates and dares us to look away, knowing full well we can't. Advance praise for FELL OF DARK:"Downes brilliantly plays with language and metaphor, and explores the dualities of sanity/insanity, beauty/ugliness, voice/voicelessness in a chilling echo of real incidents of school violence. A stunning debut novel that offers sophisticated readers a glimpse into the psychological disintegration of two distinct characters."—Kirkus Reviews "Here is a book built of darkness and gleam, of raw...