The Rag and Bone Shop
14 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: interrogation, murder, mystery, On the Edge of Your Seat, suspense, thriller
The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier
Published by Laurel Leaf, 2003
176 pgs.
Recommended reading level: 13 and up
VOYA rating: 5P, 5Q, MJS
This is a very quick and suspenseful read for teens. Even though there isn’t a lot of action it is a psychological thriller. Much of the story happens either in dialog or in the head of the protagonist and antagonist. It all unfolds very quickly with lots of suspense that keeps you turning the pages. This would be a great book for reluctant readers, particularly boys I think, because it features a young boy and an adult man as the two main characters. Since it is short it is also a good choice for noncommittal readers. It is not intimidating.
Even though this is a shorter novel it is packed tightly with dark and dubious themes and social commentary. It would be a great book discussion book for teens. It is very creepy and left me feeling very uneasy the entire time I read it which is why I feel it was effectively written for such a tiny book. The book reminded me of the old Stephen King stories that left you feeling that same queasy feeling in your stomach from the creepy and uncertain ending. In fact, it actually reminded me of “Apt Pupil” by King quite a bit.
Jason is a 12 year old boy who is the last person to see little 8 year old Allison alive. Allison is a girl in the neighborhood and is the younger sister of a boy that Jason sometimes hangs around with. Jason likes Allison just fine, though he finds her also a little odd, and he likes to sit and watch her expertly put puzzles together. One day, after Jason leaves Allison’s house after playing by the pool, Allison is found dead in the woods. She has been murdered and there are no clues to indicate who killed her, how or why. The city is in an uproar and is looking to point the finger at someone so investigators start to suspect the only person to see Allison before her murder: Jason.
Jason is innocent, but that seems to matter very little to the adults in this book. I love children’s and teen books that feature corrupt adults that cause all sorts of trouble while the kids remain the heroes or at least the ones who remain honest and true. It makes for a more interesting story for a teen to relate to. In the case of The Rag and Bone Shop, the adults do a great job of being self-serving and conniving. With politicians and the local neighborhood in an uproar over the lack of evidence, the investigators know they need someone to blame and quick. Even though there is no evidence against Jason the police decide to try and burn him at the steak. They call on Trent, a professional and famous police interrogator who has quite the success in getting criminals to confess. He is very good at his job and although he claims that all he is doing is trying to get the “truth” out of these people, it seems to suggest that he is more interested in getting the kill and returning a confession regardless of the truth at all.
This bodes just fine for the local politicians who would happily take a confession out of innocent Jason, if only Trent can get the job done. Trent is called in like a rock star to get the job done and poor Jason unknowingly walks into the interrogation room like walking into a den full of lions. Much of the book takes place within the confines of that interrogation room while Trent evilly plays on naïve Jason’s inexperience and starts to coerce him into a confession. Trent, a true professional, is able to recognize finally that Jason is clearly innocent and has not committed this terrible murder that they have accused him of. There is brief moment where you think Trent will do the right thing and completely end this terrible torturous interrogation against Jason. He almost does the right thing. Almost. Instead of listening to his initial instincts that point to Jason’s innocence, Trent goes in for the kill. He tricks Jason into confessing to the murder when he knows it is a false confession, simply to make the politicians happy and complete the job he was sent there to do. Smugly happy Trent leaves the room proud of his confession only to find out immediately that the real killer has been caught. Trent is shamed and exposed for the manipulative jerk that he is. This truly messes with Jason’s head. He is left psychologically scarred having gone through such an ordeal. He is completely bewildered by they fact that he allowed himself to be tricked into confessing such a heinous crime that he never though he could possibly have committed. Well, he THOUGHT he wouldn’t have been able to commit such a crime. Now that he knows so many other people could so easily believe such a thing about him, perhaps he might as well just go ahead and do something as equally violent. He wonders, why not embrace the evil persona that the law enforcement officials and Trent seemed to want to push on to him anyway?
There is also some interesting background information on both Jason and Trent that lead me into thinking that they are both main characters in this book. Both their stories and histories are important. Trent is the antagonist to Jason’s protagonist, but both characters are experiencing internal and external struggles and both drastically change through the course of this short book.
This is a scary book. I would recommend it for teens over 14 only because it is psychologically disturbing, not because it is overly graphic. The cover is just a weird picture of a young boy but I don’t know that there is anything all that appealing about it. I wouldn’t have been drawn to the cover on its own. It was unremarkable.
