Bottom Drawer

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Fifteen-year-old MacKenzie Kuper needs to convince Dr. Margaret Cheung,
a psychiatrist who specializes in youth trauma, that he was not trying
to commit suicide just because he was nearly hit by a train while coming
home from a rock concert. He claims it is all a misunderstanding. But
when Dr. Cheung learns that Kuper’s father died nine years earlier by
stepping in front of a train, she suspects there may be more to the
railway track incident than a mere absent-minded stroll. The answer may
lurk in the locked bottom drawer of Kuper’s dresser. Kuper installed
the lock himself and admits that besides stale cigarettes and third-hand
copies of Playboy, his bottom drawer also contains transcripts of
conversations with Damian (alias 2Cool), a close Internet friend who has
recently revealed that he is gay.

This hard-hitting novel explores the complex and often painful world of
a young man who has not come to terms with his father’s suicide. Boyd
pushes his characters to the limits. No fewer than three people are
killed in the telling of this tale, but Boyd also has a talent for
subtle twists. His main character, MacKenzie, learns to understand his
gay friend’s misery by examining his own personal humiliations. The
plot is not told in traditional chapters but through the paper trail of
Kuper’s treatment at Dr. Cheung’s clinic. The result is a gritty,
intelligent, and absorbing tale. Highly recommended.