We All Fall Down- Robert Cormier

Okay, he may not be the newest writer on the block, but he is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I guess this should be a given. I'm a teen librarian and Robert Cormier is one of THE teen authors- but in my frantic race to keep up with everything that has already been written as well as is being written, I have not read as many of his books as I should have. Of course, there's The Chocolate War, but have you ever read The Rag and Bone Shop? How about We All Fall Down? Let's start there:

We'll begin with Buddy, a middle-class junior in high school. His parents have just recently separated. His mother is like a ghost in the house since his father left to be with his girlfriend. His sister Addy hides in her room. What does Buddy do? He drinks. Gin, mostly. Another way he blows off steam is hanging out with Harry Flowers and his crew. They spend their weeknights drinking and then having "funtime" which is always something different, usually decided on by Harry. Mostly it's lighting off fireworks or making a scene in the movie theater. Harry thinks it's fun until one night "funtime" is trashing a house and hurting a girl.

Jane is a junior at a high school one town over from Buddy's. She is getting over the shock of having her house trashed and her sister Karen ending up in a coma. Karen made the mistake of coming home early the night the trashers were there and ended up falling (being pushed?) down a flight of stairs. Now all Jane wants is her sister to wake up and her life and family to return to normal.

The Avenger watched that night as the high school kids trashed that house down the street. He knows who they are and is planning his revenge. He's no stranger to murder and will do what he has to do until there is justice.