Hammond

Earnest . . . Compelling . . . successfully captures the anger frustration and freedom of kids on the brink of adulthood. -Kirkus Reviews Recommended ReviewA group of troubled but charismatic boys in a tough Buffalo NY neighborhood play basketball at a local park and dream of winning a state high school championship. Driven by raw talent and killer instinct they dominate the court but everywhere else they feel like losers.Hammond is told through the eyes of James Lombardi a precocious but mentally ill boy who believes winning a championship will ease his Evil Thoughts and save his family long haunted by generations of substance abuse uncontrollable rage and suicide.A dark but humorous coming-of-age novel Hammond offers a poetic and disturbing look inside the complex mind of an adolescent boy as he slowly learns that having the heart of a champion can sometimes be more burden than blessing.*Hammond is the first novel in a loosely-linked series with The Summer of Crud Understanding the Alacrán and Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story as books two three and four respectively.