My Loose Thread

Larry, a teenager not only wrestling with his sexuality and the implications of a physical relationship with his younger brother but with the purpose and the reason to his existence, is numb. Dead. As the book opens, Larry has been paid $500 by a senior to kill a fellow pupil and retrieve the boy's notebook. It seems simple enough. However, once Larry ventures into the notebook, complications arise. Struck at once by both the beauty of articulation and by the horror of its content, Larry longs for such an ability to communicate but feels powerless: Is there a place for sincerity or concern, or indeed love? My Loose Thread is a claustrophobic read and a harrowing piece of fiction that is all the more so for the gracefulness of the language. It confirms Cooper's reputation as one of the most talented and original novelists writing today.