Fissure Rock
By John Blair

     Books that explore the dark side of adolescence have a difficult task to face. On the one hand, teens are often more comfortable acknowledging the truth about the world around them than their parental counterparts. On the other, these kids don’t yet have the experience to deal with much of what they find themselves facing. In John Blair’s Fissure Rock, teens are perfectly aware of the undercurrent of evil that surrounds them; the only difference is that most of them are active participants in it. This makes for interesting reading.

     “You do not, I repeat, do not want to have anything to do with her.” This is the advice sixteen-year-old Jim Bridgeman is given as he gazes at the gorgeous Cynthia Sacalla. As a newcomer to Fissure Rock, uprooted from his city roots to this rural outpost, Jim must deal with the usual problems of moving to a new place. Now he’s fallen head over heels for the school’s student council president, and she seems to like him too. Before Jim knows it, he gets involved in her fourteen-year-old brother’s backyard wrestling group. Yet something sinister seems to be lurking at the heart of this all-American sport. What were those videos Jim saw sitting on Cynthia’s desk? Why has his married father been seen gallivanting around town, drunk, with her mom? And worst of all, has Jim suddenly acquired his very own Internet stalker? As Jim stumbles across the answers, he finds himself trapped in a world he could never have envisioned—one in which everyone he has ever known is untrustworthy.

      Blair is as adept at describing Jim’s slow descent into despair as he is writing exciting wrestling scenes. With definite similarities to “The Chocolate War,” the book juggles several different plotlines adeptly. Some readers may feel some initial fear that the book will become homophobic in nature, but Blair never slips in that way. Instead, Fissure Rock deals with the darkness that lurks in the heart of every small town community.

    It’s simply up to Jim to face that darkness down. Best suited for mature teens due to heavy subject matter and language.