Book excerpt: At home, high-school junior Travis Ellroy has to live up to the memory of his golden-boy brother who committed suicide. At school he faces constant pressure and ridicule from the jocks and their girlfriends. Then he meets Daniel, a new kid who doesn’t seem afraid of anything. All Travis is good at is drawing, and praise from Daniel leads to a combustible friendship—one where manipulation makes Travis go to violent extremes to get what he thinks he wants and deserves most. Though you know Travis brings a gun to school from the first chapter, the events leading up to that day unfold with gripping tension, making this powerful debut novel impossible to put down.