They are all going to die. All of the patients at the Complex are terminal, with no hope of reprieve. But they’ve volunteered to come here, to this experimental clinic to allow themselves to be test subjects. Still, they’re all going to die.
All except Barney. Barney cannot remember much about his life before the Complex, but he knows that he’s there as a control. To see how the drugs being tested will affect a nonterminal patient.
And then they start testing a new drug on him . . . one that will affect his memory.
And Barney starts to remember things he doesn’t want to remember.
Robert Cormier (1925–2000) changed the face of young adult literature over the course of his illustrious career. His many books include The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese, Fade, Tenderness, After the First Death, Heroes, Frenchtown Summer, and The Rag and Bone Shop. In 1991 he received the Margaret… More about Robert Cormier
