We All Fall Down

In the first page and a half we have the 49 minutes it takes for four teenagers to trash a family's house, attempt to rape the daughter and push her down the cellar steps, leaving her in a coma. Cormier always shocks but not by violence alone. The shock is gained because he makes us care. He shows us a world where sensitive human beings are always vulnerable to the manipulators and to the violence which can erupt with random awfulness. Cormier is quite superb at this blend of romantic realism - juxtaposing romance with harsh reality. It's like staring at evil and, as one of the characters says, there's 'no place to hide'.