First published 1998
Francis Joseph Cassavant comes back to his hometown at eighteen with most of his face gone. A grenade blast in France took his features but earned him the Silver Star. Now he carries a different kind of weapon. Francis hunts for the man who once stood as his childhood idol, another Silver Star recipient who earned his medal through acts of courage. But this former hero committed a devastating act against Francis before the war, something that happened far from any battlefield. Francis questions whether his own medal represents true bravery or something else entirely. As he searches the familiar streets with his hidden gun, Francis must confront what heroism actually means. The boy who once looked up to this man now plans his murder. Cormier strips away the comfortable myths about courage and honor, revealing how violence marks both the young soldier and the person who destroyed his life before he ever left for war.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, war, coming-of-age, action
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: France
Period: 20th-century
144 pages · Hardcover · Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Content warnings: graphic-violence, war