The Death of Jayson Porter

Jayson lives with his mother in the Florida projects. His mother drinks, does drugs, and beats Jayson. His only salvation is the part time job he has at the local auto shop, starting summer school, and hanging out with his friend Trax. When things get really bad with this mother Jayson goes to his father's place and then he finds out that his mom isn't his real mom. He was taken away because his real mom was messed up in drugs and wasn't getting clean. Shortly after this revelation, Trax is killed in an meth lab explosion in the apartment next to his. After Trax's funeral Jayson decides that he can't take anymore pain in his life and decides to kill himself. He jumps off the ruins of Trax's apartment and survives. When he wakes up in the hospital his mom and dad are there comforting him and trying to understand why he did this.

Overall a good book. The book pulls you into Jayson's life and the emotions that he is going through when his mother beats him, when hes yelled at for not doing his job, and before and after his suicide attempt.

T.B. 8/11/08