Compound Fracture

Gr 10 Up–Miles couldn’t have known that he would end up on the receiving end of a brutal assault the same night he scheduled his coming-out email to his parents, but the combined situations and the subsequent death of one of his attackers at Miles’s hand (accidentally, but still) sets off a chain of vengeance. Cooper, Miles’s best friend and maybe more, is dead set on stomping out those responsible for the West Virginia town’s deep corruption and well-known abuses of power at any cost, but as Miles reconnects with his old friend Dallas, his perspective of Cooper’s decisions and demands is shifting. Things spiral further out of control, and Miles’s ancestor Saint begins appearing, clearly trying to tell him something. Characters that cut to the bone illuminate the corrosive nature of hatred for all involved and highlight the healing power of a loving, accepting family—even an imperfect one. Miles’s dog Lady adds an irresistibly compelling emotional draw, allowing the story’s deep cuts to hit even harder. Political commentary lies alongside darkly graphic violence, and yet the heart-pounding whole feels undeniably hopeful and alive. White’s third book is also his most realistic, blending the grit of poverty and small-town power struggles with the social violence that accompanies being different; in Miles’s case, being trans and autistic add layers of risk to his already dangerous existence as a member of the locally demonized and ostracized Abernathy family.