Coming of Age Fiction

jim-lester—the-great-pretender

The Great Pretender

Twelve-year old Archie Lane’s next door neighbor is a killer. Archie has uncovered that terrible secret, but no one will believe him. If he doesn’t find a way to convince his parents he witnessed a real murder, the results could be fatal fro Archie. Set in the fall of 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, a city torn apart by one of the nation’s first civil rights crises, Archie’s suspense-filled story recounts his transition from an idyllic world to the incomprehensible world of adulthood. Throughout his story, the reader watches Archie struggle to come to terms with the subtleties of right and wrong.

jim-lester—till-the-rivers-all-run-dry

Till the Rivers All Run Dry

In 1941, when thirteen-year-old Ricky Parker’s family is uprooted from their home in Arkansas and relocated to Venezuela, Ricky thinks his life is over. But what he finds in a rough and tumble oil camp on the banks of Lake Maracaibo is the adventure of a lifetime. An adventure filled with Nazi spies, treachery, betrayal, true love, and even murder. While touching on issues that remain relevant today, such as racism and America’s reliance on foreign oil, this coming-of-age novel is a page turning, high-octane suspense tale of star-crossed young lovers set in exotic wartime Venezuela.

jim-lester-shadow-games-front

Shadow Games

Danny McCall loves basketball more than anything in the world. So why would he risk his basketball scholarship, his relationship with his girlfriend, and his entire future to fix the point spread in a series of college basketball games? These questions haunt Danny as he sits with his beloved coach’s dead body waiting for the police. While journeying back with Danny and his peers to find the answers, we witness the difficult and dangerous choices Danny makes that leads him to this untenable position. We witness his friendship with his team’s amoral star and his involvement with a pair of sleazy gamblers. We witness the struggling relationship between Danny and the girl he loves. And finally, we witness the demise of an upstanding coach who always tried to inspire his players to do the right thing. Set in the early 1990s, Shadow Games is an exciting page-turner, filled with realistic basketball action and characters wrestling with dark underworld influences. In light of the recent scandals in college basketball, Shadow Games is a topical novel for readers of all ages. Above all else, the book is a powerful portrayal of the loss of youthful innocence.