SuitabookAbuse and betrayal within a family
After Oz’s father dies, his mother’s boyfriend abuses him, lies about him and persuades his mother to send him away.
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Book details
Walter Sorrells - Author
A tense young-adult thriller about abuse, betrayal and escape, with Oz writing letters to his dead father as he confronts an abusive home life and a dangerous institution.
A few years after Oz's dad dies, his mother finds a new boyfriend who abuses him when she's not around. Oz knew that nothing good could come from him, but he never thought that things would get as bad as they did. When his soon-to-be-stepfather frames Oz and makes up lies about him, Oz's mother can't handle anymore of it. Her boyfriend talks her into thinking that he is an out of control child and he talks her into sending him to a reformatory school on a deserted swampland out in the middle of nowhere with no place to run or even hide - or so that's what he's told. When Oz arrives at the school, they're really tough on him. At first, he thinks that's just how it's supposed to be at those types of places, but after a while, he realizes that something isn't right; the staff there treats the boys with no respect at all and the rules crazy. Oz and his roommates thinks that something big is going to happen the night that everyone's parents come to visit. They decide that no matter what they've been told, they are going to find a way to escape.
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Sign in for personalised guidanceA tense young-adult thriller about abuse, betrayal and escape, with Oz writing letters to his dead father as he confronts an abusive home life and a dangerous institution.
After Oz’s father dies, his mother’s boyfriend abuses him, lies about him and persuades his mother to send him away.
Oz enters a remote school for troubled youths and comes to believe that its treatment of the boys and its rules are unacceptable.
Oz and his roommates decide to seek escape despite what they have been told, while Oz is described as moving towards taking charge of his life.
Expect emotionally difficult material involving bereavement, abuse by an adult, manipulation, harsh treatment at school, danger and a planned escape. The intensity and ending are not fully clear.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: the current material supports only a cautious reading.
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