3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eerie and Touching, January 6, 2003
West Nile Virus, plagues of frogs and crows and horrid heat, and a secret cheating ring, all in a quiet little town called Bellehaven, where, 200 years ago, an innocent man named Jessup Wildemere was hanged without a trial.
At the center of all this is Simon Gray, for whom the book is named. At the beginning of the book, Simon crashes his car into the Liberty Tree, where Jessup Wildemere was hung. Was it an accident caused by the frogs all over the road, or a suicide attempt? No one believes it was a suicide attempt, after all, Simon is a "good boy".
Either way, Simon lies in a coma, and his family and the cheating ring to which he, as the hacker, is key, nervously watch as Simon clings to life.
His family includes his sister and his father. His mother died a while back---since then, his sister has begun smoking marijuana to ease the pain, while Simon has kept it all inside, though he sometimes thinks he sees her ghost.
The cheating ring is composed of 3 other people, including Devin, a girl Simon's secretly in love with, and the reason he even decided to help them get test answers off the school database. Unfortunately, Devin is the girlfriend of another one of the people in the cheating ring.
The cheating ring is under suspicion, and police come to Simon's house and take away his computer for investigation.
Meanwhile, Simon, in a coma, experiences an out-of-body experience, during which he talks with Jessup Wildermere. Simon finds out that Jessup is not unlike him, in love with someone who doesn't love him back. Simon finds out what truly happened to Jessup, and is shocked by what he finds.
This book was very touching, a little spooky, and a great peek into the mind of a troubled social outcast and goody-goody. It also really made me think about how often we get the facts wrong, and what permanent effects that can have on people's lives.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Complete truth is never black or white, but shades of gray, January 17, 2002
Bellehaven. A sleepy little town with a secret that is two hundred years old. In 1798, a young man, Jessup Wildemere, was hanged without a trial for a crime he didn't commit. Now, in the present, 16-year-old Simon Gray has crashed his car into the very same tree that that Jessup was hung on. He is alive, but in a coma, taking with him a secret of his own. He had been bullied into hacking into the school's computer system to procure tests for three older kids. Now the three kids are worried that their secret will be revealed as cops swarm the school, investigating a hacking incident.
While this is going on, Simon, trapped inside his own world, communicates with the long-dead Jessup, and discovers that the man was innocent... And makes some discoveries for himself.
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