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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
A murder and its aftermath; some racial violence; horror elements including a river monster
Language
Barely any
Period-appropriate mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild teen content
Substance Use
Barely any
Some drinking in the adult world
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The psychological weight of witnessing violence as a child; the horror elements are real; the racial terror of Jim Crow depicted honestly; the mystery haunts both Cory and the reader
What this book is about
Cory Mackenson is twelve years old in the spring of 1964 in Zephyr, Alabama, when his father witnesses a car plunge into a lake—and the body inside is a murdered man, hands cuffed, wire around his throat. The murderer is never found. Cory spends the year growing up through magic realism and Southern Gothic wonder: a monster in the river, a mysterious street, summer adventures, and the town's dark heart underneath. McCammon's masterpiece is part coming-of-age, part murder mystery, part love letter to childhood—and part unflinching look at racial violence in the Jim Crow South.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
A murder mystery that involves racial violence in the Jim Crow South
Genuine horror elements alongside the coming-of-age story
The darkness of the adult world seen through a child's eyes
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