Nathan's Run

When twelve-year-old Nathan Bailey kills a guard at a juvenile detention center and runs away, the evidence is clear: The guard's murder is part of a brutal escape plan. Declared incorrigible by a judge, and sentenced to 18 months in the Juvenile Detention Center for stealing a car, there's simply no other explanation. Bailey's a thief, a jail breaker and a murderer, and he must be brought to justice. Or so it seems. In Nathan's Run, first time novelist John Gilstrap displays a unique talent for reaching into today's headlines. His compelling story is woven around two timely issues: the ease with which the juvenile justice system warehouses kids and removes them from our collective consciousness, and the ability of the news media to alter the public's view of individual criminal acts. Fueled by the fiery rhetoric of J. Daniel Petrelli, a local prosecutor with Senatorial ambitions, the public is outraged at Nathan's cold-bloodedness. However, Nathan declares that he killed in self-defense. Polite and articulate, he unwittingly moves beyond the labels that have been thrust upon him -- incorrigible and violent criminal -- and becomes to the public at-large what he is in real life; a young boy who's alone in the world, pitted against forces too large for him to comprehend. With it's exceptional realism, suspenseful narrative, and an expertly conveyed sense of desperation, Nathan's Run is destined to capture the attention of readers and provide John Gilstrap with a legion of fans.