A videotape of a sexual encounter between three H.S. basketball players (ages 18 and 19) at a private boarding school in Vermont and a 14-year-old freshman finds it way to the headmaster -- and eventually to the parents, police, and the press. What happened to these three promising young men, two of whom had never been in trouble before? Did the girl "seduce" them, and in light of the law, does it even matter if she did? Shouldn't they just say no? This disturbing novel takes a look at the issue from multiple viewpoints, illustrated by interviews conducted two years after the event. If any of these boys could go back in time, you just know they would make a different decision -- but who among us can't say the same thing about various episodes in our own lives? Most of us are lucky, though, in that the consequences of our bad decisions don't affect us as drastically as they do the characters in this novel. This is a sad story - but utterly believable. It's hard not to point fingers at who was MOST responsible, who was hurt the most, who should pay the biggest price. The characters are multi-faceted and real, and the entire story just made me so grateful not to be in the middle of it. But it was still kind of sleazy, and therefore I can't give it all four starts.
So -- three out of four.
A videotape of a sexual encounter between three H.S. basketball players (ages 18 and 19) at a private boarding school in Vermont and a 14-year-old freshman finds it way to the headmaster -- and eventually to the parents, police, and the press. What happened to these three promising young men, two of whom had never been in trouble before? Did the girl "seduce" them, and in light of the law, does it even matter if she did? Shouldn't they just say no? This disturbing novel takes a look at the issue from multiple viewpoints, illustrated by interviews conducted two years after the event. If any of these boys could go back in time, you just know they would make a different decision -- but who among us can't say the same thing about various episodes in our own lives? Most of us are lucky, though, in that the consequences of our bad decisions don't affect us as drastically as they do the characters in this novel. This is a sad story - but utterly believable. It's hard not to point fingers at who was MOST responsible, who was hurt the most, who should pay the biggest price. The characters are multi-faceted and real, and the entire story just made me so grateful not to be in the middle of it. But it was still kind of sleazy, and therefore I can't give it all four starts. 
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