Running Loose

Not my favorite of Crutcher's work, but still very well-written with strong characters and a good plot.

Louie Banks thought he had everything figured out when school started in the fall. He'd trained and earned a starting spot on the football team, had the smartest and most beautiful girl in school for a girlfriend, and a job. When he quits the team in protest against his coach's questionable ethics, things seem bad. But then Becky dies in a car accident, and Louie's life collapses. While many aspects of this novel characterize it as almost bleak, the wonderful people that comprise Louie's support system keep the novel from being a truly bleak narrative. This novel will absolutely appeal to high school boys (the subject matter–death, and a sort-of sex scene–seems a little too heavy for the middle school set).