There's something about Lucas you can't help but love. Cute, mysterious, observant, self-sufficient, a little dark, a little dangerous... you can see why Cait falls for him so easily. Living in a small town growing up, it's also easy to see why the town turns on him for seemingly nothing. This is a very dramatic edge-of-the-seat kind of book. I've read it twice now, and am sure I'll read it again someday. ( )

This is a love/hate/tragedy book that easily captures and keeps the reader's attention. A teenage girl named Caitlin becomes involved with a boy named Lucus that will change her life forever. ( )

I loved this book when I read it. Lucas is the "mystery boy" that is so appealing to teenage girls. The conflict of someone different is a small community rings true. ( )

“Stories aren’t facts, Cait, they’re not details. Stories are feelings.” And so begins the allegorical journey into the life of Caitlin McCann as measured by Lucas. A story, as the cover tells us, filled with love and hate. Set among the mudflats on the small island of Hale whose access to the mainland is controlled by the tides, Brooks uses his setting to force attention to the tides of human behavior; the pull and counter pull of love and hate. Lucas sees color auras of people and places. He shows up waiting when characters need to see him. Dogs don’t bark at him. The island residents merely want to kill him. “People don’t like it when they don’t know what you are. They don’t like things that don’t fit. It frightens them. They’d rather have a monster they know than a mystery they don’t. In a place like this, the fear takes hold and spreads. It feeds on itself.” (167). We find ourselves sucked into this story bit by bit until all 423 pages seem not nearly long enough! Brooks weaves a nice blend of mood, whether describing the delicate bone-handled knife carving of Deef the dog or the encounter with evil Jamie and the same bone-handled knife. While this story is entitled Lucas, it is about Caitlin. It demonstrates how one intelligent young girl filters, sifts, and sorts the various truths of her life and grows. Teens will find PLENTY to discuss with this one, not the least of which is whether violence can solve problems. ( )

an amazing gripping novel that captivates the imagination