In Awe of Scott Heim

The thing I really want to say is "Scott, when is the next book out - please?!"
In Awe is Scott Heim's second novel, after the now out on film Mysterious Skin. It follows three friends - all outsiders in the mid-US - who find themselves the target of a campaign of terror and violence. Harriet (62) is the mother of Marshall who has recently died of AIDS; Sarah (32), was Marshall's best friend - a feisty but vulnerable young woman working in a convenience store, living in a disused mini-golf centre and obsessed with B-grade horror movies and their heroines; Boris is a 17 year old orphan - befriended by Sarah, Marshall and Harriet - who lives in the local detention centre and is obsessed with writing the ultimate zombie novel and with Rex (beautiful but straight and at the centre of the gang of teenage boys who target the three friends). Amidst the escalating violence that surrounds them Heim writes a book that explores what it means essentially to be a friend - to love, to protect, to understand and to support those you care for. His characters despite their eccentricities (or maybe because of these) are made very real and there's a great sense of tension and suspence (as you'd expect with a book that in a small part pays homage to the horror movie genre). Its a pleasure to read and a delight to recommend.