The Knife That Killed Me by Andre McGowan

McGowan, Andre. The Knife That Killed Me, 216 pgs. Delacorte Press, 2008. $16.99.Lnguage-PG (No “f”); Sexual Content-PG-13; Violence-R (for being gross) : Paul is a loner at a rough catholic high school in England, easily the object of bullying, Paul longs to fit in somewhere. Unfortunately, Paul finds that he is torn by two different groups the school gang and the school freaks. Paul finds that he prefers the freaks, but he can’t refuse Roth, the gang leader and becomes the go between for two rival gangs which leads Paul into deathly danger when he’s expected to bring his knife to a war. There are some beautifully written passages in this book, however, there are so many minor characters to keep straight that I was confused for the first several chapters. Also, McGowan mixes some passages that take place in the future in between chapters, this was also confusing, I didn’t understand what was going on. There is some guy talk and references to sex that are graphic, the language was moderate, and the violence disgusting (i.e. Paul is attacked by the jaw and teeth of a dog corpse). Yet, as I got into the story, I found myself wanting to read more to find out how the Paul’s relationships with the other characters developed. HS - OPTIONAL. Anna, School Library Media Specialist.