On the Head of a Pin [Hardcover]

Mary Beth Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2006

Josh makes a vow after his sister Angela’s near-drowning: if God will keep her alive, he will become a priest. But Josh’s promise is shattered the moment his friend Andy picks up a rifle at the end of a drinking party. The gun goes off, killing a classmate who lingered too long. Andy refuses to confess to the accident; instead, he forces Josh to help him hide the body. Then Andy swears Josh to secrecy by threatening to kill him—or worse, Angela. How can Josh protect her when he is racked with guilt? This view into a faithful boy’s private hell is eye-opening and stomach-twisting.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Seventeen-year-old Andy accidentally kills Helen while taunting Josh and Victor with a hunting rifle at a late-night party. Devout Josh is desperate to call 911 but Andy and Victor threaten to kill him and his family if he tells. The three boys bury Helen's body in the woods. Josh is devoured by guilt, fear, and shame; can't eat or sleep; and begins to hear voices. The chapters alternate between Helen's boyfriend, Michael, who had passed out and missed the shooting, and Josh, as Michael struggles with stupefying grief and Josh tries to stay alive and sane. Miller portrays both young men with empathy and love, and their deeply honest voices maintain the narrative. The first and last chapters are Helen's, and her voice, and Michael's memories of her, are equally natural and sympathetic. Taoist proverbs start Michael's chapters and lines of a psalm start Josh's to set the mood, but are confusing and precious as they seem barely connected to characters and events. The novel's numerous side plots and characters-Josh may have caused his sister's crippling accident, Michael must save his younger brother from their father, an old hippie is the only worthy adult in town-are distractions from an otherwise gripping and suspenseful story. Faith, guilt, depression, child abuse, gun control, and life after death are just too many themes for one novel, and the result is sometimes muddled and discomfiting. Though Miller tries to do too much, her beautifully rendered narrators manage to compel readers on to the last page.-Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 9-12. After a party at his father's isolated cabin, Andy is kidding around with friends Josh and Victor when he points a rifle and it accidentally goes off, killing Helen, who is coming downstairs. Terrified, the boys drug Helen's boyfriend, Michael, and bury Helen on a neighbor's property. What begins as a story about an accident (with a strong antigun message) develops into a carefully crafted, complex character study of young men reacting to the horrifying events of a single evening. While delving into the psychological torment each teen endures, Miller explores the enormous influence that adults have on teenagers' lives. Told in alternating chapters by Josh and Michael, the novel contrasts the boys' private anguish and guilt with larger questions about organized religion, fate, and good and evil in society. Miller, who gave us Aimee (2001), has written another edgy novel that skillfully weaves together numerous strands to create a horrifying yet thought-provoking and disturbingly real scenario. For another riveting story about teens, guns, and consequences, recommend Walter Dean Myers' Monster (1999). Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (March 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525477365
• ISBN-13: 978-0525477365
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #924,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in Michigan, then moved to Pennsylvania to go to college. I finished college at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where I lived for six years. I've been married for 20 years and have four kids who are the delight of my life. Really! We live on a hill in the woods in a small town in what I've always called the back end of nowhere. I downhill ski with my kids when the planet's acting like global warming isn't happening, which is becoming less often. I love traveling but hate taking the same pictures as 4 million other tourists, so I take the back roads and never go on those bus tours where they drag you to fourteen cities in two days. If I watch tv, it's usually TLC or Discovery Channel or MASH reruns. I'd rather be reading, though.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Miller tackles tough issues through innovative narrative, December 4, 2006

By 

J. Reynolds (Clemson, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Head of a Pin (Hardcover)

On the Head of a Pin
Mary Beth Miller
The murder of Helen Mitchell, the local homecoming queen, tears a small town apart. Josh's drunken friend, Andy, accidentally shoots Helen at his party while playing with his father's rifle. Andy and Victor, Andy's dangerous friend, force Josh to help them bury Helen's body in the woods and frame Michael for his girlfriend's murder. Michael leaves town because of a fight with his father before he learns of Helen's death. Once he finds out, the only things that keep him going are his obsession for finding Helen's murderer and rescuing his brother from the abusive father he left behind. When Helen dies, Michael loses his ability to paint and draw, and part of his path to the truth and to clear his name is learning to trust adults again. Although Josh did not commit the murder, it haunts him because he blames himself for his sister's drowning accident the previous year that has left her comatose. He tries to act normal while guilt and his sudden loss of faith literally eat him alive. Michael's and Josh's stories collide when they must face Helen's murderer in an attempt to bring out the truth. Mary Beth Miller, author of Aimee, successfully masters the double male teenage narrative, allowing the reader to forget the gender of the author and become lost in the story. Miller also confronts the issues of guilt, loyalty to friends, the importance of social groups in teen society, and teens trusting adults in this contemporary action novel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, May 1, 2006

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Head of a Pin (Hardcover)

When you open ON THE HEAD OF A PIN to read what the book is about, the first line that jumps out at you is "one thoughtless act can impact many lives." This is the basis for Mary Beth Miller's latest release, and it definitely holds true for the characters of ON THE HEAD OF A PIN.

Five teenagers, all as different as can be. There's Helen, the beautiful Homecoming Queen who didn't ask for her title. She wants nothing more than to finish high school and go away to college, so that she can finally bring her relationship with her boyfriend, Michael, out into the open. Her parents don't understand what she could possibly see in him, a boy already graduated from high school who spends his free time painting pictures. He's not the type of boy her parents want to see their daughter with, even if she does claim to love him. He comes from a questionable family, and he's definitely not the upstanding guy Helen should be dating.

Then there's Michael himself, a young man who spends all of his time either avoiding his father, taking care of his younger brother, Richie, working at a garage fixing cars, or taking his canvases into the woods to paint. Although he loves Helen and wants to be with her, he understands why her parents are hesitant about their relationship--after all, the tension at home is enough to drive anyone crazy.

Then there's Joshua, a boy who still torments himself over the death of his sister, Angela. He's come to the conclusion that he would be best served by becoming a priest, since he did make God a promise. But he's become increasingly worried about his best friend, Andy, who has started hanging around with Victor, a guy that gives Josh the creeps.

We have Andy, the boy who always has to be the center of attention. His stories get bigger the more he tells them, and there's always a mention of his parent's money in their somewhere. Although he's the one who inadvertently started the events that would change all of their lives, he's not about to take the fall.

And lastly the enigmatic Victor, the bad boy that everyone avoids as often as possible. He definitely has a hand in getting people riled up, but what is it about him that draws Andy to him like a moth to a flame?

Five teenagers, one gun, one disposed of body. One of the five is now dead, and another one soon will be. One goes crazy, one loses his mind with grief, and one will end up in prison. But how does this happen, to whom, and why? Pick up a copy of ON THE HEAD OF A PIN to find out--it's a great mystery for teens and adults alike.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When does it become too much to handle? When can you turn to an adult for help? Who can you trust?, September 9, 2006

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Head of a Pin (Hardcover)

Mary Beth Miller made a splash with her wildly successful, award-nominated debut novel Aimee, about the assisted suicide of a very troubled teen girl. In On the Head of a Pin, Miller again creates an intense psychological drama, complete with similarly self-absorbed, clueless, and mistrusting adults. On the Head of a Pin differs from her first novel, both in the gender of the main characters, and the nature of the central action. Here, we have a trio of reluctant friends who accidentally perpetuate a crime and are forced together in the cover-up, each with their own motivations, fears, and obligations. None can fully trust their others, nor himself. A fourth male is forced on the lam by his family situation, and suspicion starts to spread in his direction.

The book is about figuring out who to trust (and surprisingly, there are some adults who come through for troubled teens in here) and how far one can go without being true to oneself. One character struggles with guilt over his sister's paralyzing accident, one tries to protect a younger sibling from a step-parent's rampages, and others are trying to figure out their place in the hierarchy of high school.

I was surprised to see that formal reviews tagged this novel with a "strong antigun message." A gun is involved in the accidental crime. It is an element of the plot, and there are certainly lessons to be learned about mixing alcohol and reckless gun play. But there is no formal message, and absolutely no preaching about gun control. The strength of both of Miller's novels is her ability to raise issues such as suicide, child abuse, gun usage, organized religion, and family skeletons without giving the reader a suggested answer. She writes candidly about issues that are important for teens to consider and fit into their own personal belief structure.