Tenderness

by Robert Cormier Narrated by Jennifer Ikeda

Overview

Best-selling author Robert Cormier's suspenseful and masterfully told novel takes bold steps into some of the most difficult topical territory ever conceived for young adult fiction. Booklist praises this “mesmerizing plunge into the mind of a psychopathic teen killer that is both deeply disturbing and utterly compelling.”

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The path of a serial killer intertwines with that of a teenage runaway who cannot resist his charm. "Readers will stay on the edge of their seats," said PW. Ages 14-up. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

Gr 6 UpCormier is in top form in this chilling portrait of a serial murderer. Eric Poole has progressed from killing kittens, cats, and a canary to parents and unsuspecting young women. Now 18, he has paid for his mother and stepfather's murders with three years of juvenile detention and is ready to continue his "plan." Unfortunately, his looks and shallow charm are as pleasing on the outside as his character is ugly on the inside. The story unfolds through the eyes of two characters: Eric, and the luckless 15-year-old Lori, a runaway who met Eric once when she was 12 and is drawn to him like a moth to the flame. Even when she realizes his guilt, after he attempts to kill her, she can not desert him. The ugliness of the story contrasts with the beauty of the language. Perfectly titled with characteristic irony, a sense of "tenderness" pervades this gripping tale. Where other, lesser writers would have screamed the story in full-blown tabloid prose, Cormier is the model of decorum. No overt blood and gore are needed for this author to terrify his readers. Eric is not an antihero. Sympathy is not so much for the undeserving villain, but for the society that spawned and neutered him. A meaty horror study that's a fine substitute for the anemic, but popular "Fear Street" books.Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO

Kirkus Reviews

A serial killer; an aging cop with a hunch; an impulsive 15-year-old runaway: Three familiar characters are spun by a master of suspense into another disturbing study in emotional dysfunction.

Convicted in the less punitive juvenile court—just as he had planned—for the murder of his mother and stepfather, Eric Poole has served his three years, and is slated for release on his 18th birthday. Outwardly guileless and extremely charming, he has convinced everyone that he was a victim of abuse (with self- inflicted scars as evidence) who struck back. Only Lt. Jake Proctor, who suspects Eric in the unsolved murder of two teenage girls, is skeptical. Enter Lori, a rootless girl with scars on her wrist, a woman's body, and the memory of a clean- cut boy who was nice to her years ago. Both she and Eric are searching for "tenderness"—which means, for her, safety and respect, and for him, the fierce inner response after he holds a life in his hands and then takes it. Cormier (In the Middle of the Night, 1995, etc.) draws the strings taut as Eric decides what to do with Lori, and Proctor watches and waits for a chance to get Eric back behind bars before he can kill again. In a devastatingly ironic climax, Lori helps Eric evade Proctor's trap, then dooms him by dying under suspicious but entirely accidental circumstances. Almost everyone here is a victim; one is a monster.

From the Publisher

*"Cormier is in top form in this cilling portrait...a sense of 'tenderness' pervades this gripping tale."
—School Library Journal, starred review

"Cormier's latest is a mesmerizing plunge into the mind of a psychopathic teen killer that is both deeply disturbing and utterly compelling."
—Booklist

"A serial killer; an aging cop with a hunch; an impulsive 15-year-old runaway: Three familiar characters are spun by a master of suspense into another disturbing study in emotional dysfunction."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Rarely has Cormier's irony been darker...readers will stay on the edge of their seats."
— Publishers Weekly

FEBRUARY 2009 - AudioFile

Jennifer Ikeda delivers a moving interpretation of Cormier's psychological thriller, published in 1997, about 18-year-old Eric Porter, a serial killer, and Lori, the 15-year-old girl who falls in love with him. Eric and Lori's haunting story unfolds in alternating chapters as each searches for his or her own personal, albeit disturbing, definition of tenderness. This compelling story translates well to audio. Ikeda's youthful voice conveys the flux of emotions, while exposing both characters’ severe emotional dysfunction. Listeners will appreciate Ikeda's timing as she allows the story's suspense to build until to its unforgettable conclusion. The subtle suggestions of sexual abuse and incest are just as unsettling as the more graphically detailed offerings of other current young adult thrillers. L.A.C.

© AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171110925
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	12/12/2008
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

"You're a psychopath, Eric." The smoke came out of the lieutenant's mouth as if his words were stoked by an inner fire. "A monster."

Eric recoiled, as if the old cop had struck him in the face. Monster?

"Chances are you'll kill again. You know it and I know it."

Or was the old cop merely trying to taunt him? Trying to make him lose his cool? Don't let him do that. Monster was only a word, anyway. And those were the only weapons the lieutenant had: words.

"You're taking a lot for granted, Lieutenant," Eric said, the sound of his voice reassuring, establishing his control of the conversation once more. "You're making wild accusations. I wasn't even convicted by a jury. A judge heard my case. He didn't think I was a monster. He was very sympathetic. So were a lot of other people."

"Other people? Did you take a close look at them? Who they were, what they were? You killed your mother and father, Eric. In cold blood." Not sounding tired anymore.

Eric did not smile but his eyes gleamed. The lieutenant did not know about the others. Nobody knew about them.


From the Paperback edition.

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