In a morally intricate, labyrinthine plot, Russell Banks (Cloudsplitter; Continental Drift) takes on an unpopular subject, pedophilia and attempts to humanize it. The Kid is a registered sex offender, living with other offenders beneath a causeway in southern Florida--one of the few places that is more than the legally mandated 2,500 feet from an area where children might gather.
The Kid is 22, an ignorant but not stupid loner, who got caught in a sting after showing up at the home of a girl who admitted online to being 14. He came bearing beer, condoms and pornographic DVDs. Earlier, the Kid had been given a general discharge from the army for distributing porn to his fellow soldiers, which he had done in the hope of making friends. Good choices have been at a premium.
Then the Professor arrives; hugely fat, tall and imposing, he sees the Kid and the other inhabitants of the causeway as research subjects. A sociologist, he theorizes that organization and responsibility will change their lives, so he helps them form committees to tidy up and dig a latrine. It works for a while, until a hurricane blows through and wipes out their shelters. The Professor takes the Kid home, where he discovers that his wife and the children have left him.
He has interviewed the Kid about his life, a sad tale about a neglectful mother and absent father, and now he asks the Kid to interview him, to produce a DVD to leave for his wife after his imminent death. There follows a story about the Professor's past, just bizarre enough to be true; as he says, "The world is full of people who aren't who or what they say they are." Another recurring theme is spoken by the Writer: "We just have to choose what to believe and act accordingly, Kid."
There is nothing uplifting about this tale; indeed, it is an indictment of knee-jerk reactions to offenses that are vastly different yet receive the same harsh punishment. Although it is slightly polemical and occasionally preachy, you will keep reading because Banks knows how to tell his story. --Valerie Ryan