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Before the Flood
A Student Drowns at a Boarding School. Accident or Murder?President Kennedy has just been assassinated. Still in shock, sixteen-year-old Brian Reed and all of New England’s Harkness Academy are even more stunned when they learn of the drowning of a naive freshman, Ted Merrifield. The autopsy reports that "Merry" was legally drunk, something that seems totally out of character and way beyond his years.
Brian is wracked with guilt at how he turned his back on "Merry," and sets out to learn what really happened. He is aided by--actually goaded by--an unknown figure leaving him cryptic notes.
Harkness Academy is a well-oiled machine that has turned out America’s leaders and captains of industry for 250 years. A clique of four powerful upperclassmen rules much of the campus--even some of the teachers--and they will stop at nothing to hide the truth.
Seeking to uncover what really happened at great personal risk, Brian discovers a terrible secret.
Order your copy of this gripping psychological, coming of age thriller.
Brian is wracked with guilt at how he turned his back on "Merry," and sets out to learn what really happened. He is aided by--actually goaded by--an unknown figure leaving him cryptic notes.
Harkness Academy is a well-oiled machine that has turned out America’s leaders and captains of industry for 250 years. A clique of four powerful upperclassmen rules much of the campus--even some of the teachers--and they will stop at nothing to hide the truth.
Seeking to uncover what really happened at great personal risk, Brian discovers a terrible secret.
Order your copy of this gripping psychological, coming of age thriller.
166 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 1, 2023
42 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 24, 2023
Before The Flood is an atmospheric novella-length coming of age story about a teenager at an exclusive New England prep school, who is drawn into the mystery surrounding the death of another pupil. I was offered a copy to review by the author, who wrote one of my favourite books of the last few years, Memory of an Elephant. This was very different in tone and genre, but packed a lot in to its 136 pages.
Brian Reed, the eldest son of a distant entitled father and busy actress mother, gets by at school by keeping his head down and avoiding the bullying he sees being inflicted on younger, weaker boys. Then one of them is found drowned in the river, and Brian starts receiving anonymous notes urging him to investigate. Can he find out what happened without becoming a victim himself?
Unlike his previous book, this was a very American story, peppered with cultural references that had me reaching for google, but that should resonate with American readers.
Lasker perfectly captures the arrogance and cruelty of a certain class of adolescent, shielded by their privilege and unaware of the challenges that lie ahead. The bullying is considered so normal that the teachers ignore it - or are perpetrators themselves. Partly autobiographical, Brian’s confusion and angst are eloquently rendered: he wishes he could do the right thing, but lacks the courage to stand up for and protect the less popular boys and become a target himself.
I liked all the sixties references, musical, literary and political - the story opens with the boys’ reacting to the news that JFK has been assassinated, but they soon retreat back inside the insular world of the school and its preoccupations - mostly team sports. This isn’t really a thriller, although there is a mystery. Rather it’s a thought provoking character-driven story - there’s no major twist, and the reveal is not a surprise although there’s a certain grim satisfaction in the outcome. Before the Flood is available now.
Brian Reed, the eldest son of a distant entitled father and busy actress mother, gets by at school by keeping his head down and avoiding the bullying he sees being inflicted on younger, weaker boys. Then one of them is found drowned in the river, and Brian starts receiving anonymous notes urging him to investigate. Can he find out what happened without becoming a victim himself?
Unlike his previous book, this was a very American story, peppered with cultural references that had me reaching for google, but that should resonate with American readers.
Lasker perfectly captures the arrogance and cruelty of a certain class of adolescent, shielded by their privilege and unaware of the challenges that lie ahead. The bullying is considered so normal that the teachers ignore it - or are perpetrators themselves. Partly autobiographical, Brian’s confusion and angst are eloquently rendered: he wishes he could do the right thing, but lacks the courage to stand up for and protect the less popular boys and become a target himself.
I liked all the sixties references, musical, literary and political - the story opens with the boys’ reacting to the news that JFK has been assassinated, but they soon retreat back inside the insular world of the school and its preoccupations - mostly team sports. This isn’t really a thriller, although there is a mystery. Rather it’s a thought provoking character-driven story - there’s no major twist, and the reveal is not a surprise although there’s a certain grim satisfaction in the outcome. Before the Flood is available now.
December 8, 2023
Wow, Alex
If it wasn’t Harkness I attended in the early 60s it was sure as hell a ringer for it. The snow, the river, the attitudes, the stratification, the nicknames, the townies, the rivalry with a school whose name ended with …field! Yikes. And then the opening up to young women years later. This is a very good and true-to-life story.
I felt every page as if I had been there myself. I guess maybe I had!
If it wasn’t Harkness I attended in the early 60s it was sure as hell a ringer for it. The snow, the river, the attitudes, the stratification, the nicknames, the townies, the rivalry with a school whose name ended with …field! Yikes. And then the opening up to young women years later. This is a very good and true-to-life story.
I felt every page as if I had been there myself. I guess maybe I had!
August 11, 2023
Finished because I started it.
I cannot in any way recommend this book unless you are a teenage boy needing a little guidance in how not to behave. I was expecting a decent mystery with a challenge to solve. None of that here. Just a sad story that I pray never happened.
I cannot in any way recommend this book unless you are a teenage boy needing a little guidance in how not to behave. I was expecting a decent mystery with a challenge to solve. None of that here. Just a sad story that I pray never happened.
July 10, 2023
Enjoyed this but Lord deserved what he got. What a mean schoolmate he was to everyone.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews