Customer Reviews

Boy A: Movie Tie-in Edition

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Jonathan Trigell's haunting debut (loosely based on a real 1990s case) follows a nine-year-old who commits a gruesome murder and gets dubbed by politicians and news-papers ''The Evilest Boy in Britain.'' Fifteen years later, Boy A - a.k.a. Jack Burridge, an alias chosen to hide his identity from the still-outraged public - wins release from prison and re-immerses himself in a world that's unforgiving but strangely tantalizing in Boy A. He discovers the opposite sex (''a new species: of legs, of lips, of breasts, of hips, of eyes, of thighs''), while still tormented by violent urges and the fear that his past will be discovered. Trigell masterfully builds sympathy for Jack, the story's ending leaves a bittersweet ache for more.

In Luton, England Boy A and Boy B were convicted of murdering a young girl Angela Milton. Being teens there names were suppressed and their sentence relatively short for the heinous crime they committed.

A decade later Boy A is freed and uses Jack Burridge as his new name; a fight in the bar gives him the nickname "Bruiser". His probation officer Uncle Terry arranges a place to live for Jack and finds the young man a job as a map reader. As Boy A, Jack learned how to survive brutal incarceration by fitting in and being amiable with everyone. He is doing well until he begins an affair with a woman at work at the same time the media announces Boy A is free to kill again.

Although the alphabetizing of each subsequent chapter is gimmicky, it works as it accentuates the dilemma of society dealing with violent youths committing crimes. Jack is a fascinating character as he knows he will be insecure for the rest of his life looking back at who will point the finger at Boy A. Readers will see how he got to the situation he is in as Jonathan Trigell takes the audience back through the lead character's life that led to his joining Boy B to commit a homicide. Jack knows first hand that society pretends to rehab convicts, but expects revenge any moment. Fans will appreciate this strong character study of a young man who has no future, lives to barely survive the present, and cannot forget the past as no one (including himself) will ever let that occur.

Harriet Klausner

Sometimes the new worlds revealed in small-press crime stories are those other writers hesitate to enter. BOY A (Serpent's Tail, paper, $14), a shocker of a first novel by Jonathan Trigell, is the unnerving account of a young man (''Jack's his name. He chose it himself'') who has been released from prison after years of confinement for a crime so hideous the tabloids named him the ''Evilest Boy in Britain.'' Although it's told with extraordinary restraint, the story of Jack's life unfolds with a gathering horror that invites as much compassion as revulsion and leaves the reader (this one, anyway) in need of air.

Based on a true murder case, Boy A is a singularly powerful novel about a young man, who committed a terrible crime in childhood and has spent most of his brief life in juvenile prison institutions. Now he has to struggle to adapt to the world as an adult, haunted by flashes of violence and fear, trusted by few, understood by virtually none. A disturbing yet gripping story that explores both moral and practical questions, as well as the horrific negative repercussions of media hysteria.

Jack at twenty four years old has just been released from prison, he is in the company of Terry, his long assigned care officer, ahead he has a new life invented for him; only the name Jack did he choose for himself. But can he make a success of it? He has grown up in juvenile institutions having committee as a child, along with an accomplice, an horrendous crime. All seems to go well, he has work, makes good friends, even a girlfriend who loves him; yet he finds it a struggle to live as this invented person, and of course there are those, including the tabloid press, who cannot forget what happened in the past.

By introducing us to Jack as a young man before we know the extent of his crime, it is easy to accept him without judgement, and he comes across as a friendly, slightly naïve, but very likeable young guy. As we learn more about his unhappy upbringing, for we jump back and forth in time chapter by chapter, we are even more endeared to him. Having so endeared Jack to us, what subsequently transpires is all the more involving, for our heart goes out to the youngster and especially when everything appears to be falling apart for him.

The other characters are well drawn and very believable, including Terry, his devoted carer, his fun loving friends and workmates, and his attractive and slightly voluptuous girlfriend.

Jonathan Trigell writes eminently readable prose which captures just the right intimate mood. It is a thought provoking, cleverly yet subtly constructed story, with a touch of irony, and great humanity. Boy A is heart rending tale that could as easily be fact as fiction, and all the more moving for that.

I couldn't put this book down. Loosely based on the real life James Bulger murder (which was, dare I say it, even more horrific than the crime Boy A has committed) it is both harrowing and thought provoking, and I found myself feeling optimistic for Jack at the end.

Easy to read in spite of some horrible graphic images. Boy A's story exemplifies the harm that parents create for their children when they don't like themselves or don't love each other. Little sins, like little pebbles in a quiet lake making widening circles, become greater sins. Finishing the story led me to think maybe little sins should be dealt with instead of being waved away with a permissive hand.

I had never heard of this novel until this past summer when the Film Forum in NYC showed the motion picture adaptation starring Andrew Garfield. I was so mesmerized by this film and by Garfield's superb performance that I had to track down the original source material and was glad I did. The novel was equally gripping and emotionally unsettling. This is one instance of a book having its power retained fully on screen, and Jonathan Trigell should be grateful for the attention this movie will bring his work for years to come.

Well-worth reading for its subject matter, I found the book to be over-manipulative at times. The author obviously feels that 'Jack' should be given a second chance, and tries to make us think the same way.

The one-sidedness of the argument appears is a few places: we are not fully exposed to the victim's horror, or to the loss felt by her family. We never know clearly how Jack feels about what he did, and indeed if he feels guilt or remorse. Infact, since we are not told what happened to the girl, we're not sure whether he's guilty at all.