In the middle of the night Garrett is taken from his home to Harmony Lake, a boot camp for troubled teens. Maybe some kids deserve to be sent there, but Garrett knows he doesn't. Subjected to brutal physical and psychological abuse, he tries to fight back, but the battle is futile. He won't be allowed to leave until he's admitted his "mistakes" and conformed to Harmony Lake's standards of behavior. And there's no way to fake it. Beaten, humiliated, and stripped of his pride, Garrett's spirit is slowly ebbing away. Then he hears whispers of an escape plot. It's incredibly risky -- if he's caught, the consequences will be unthinkable -- but it may be his only way out.

In this tense, riveting novel, award-winning YA author Todd Strasser reveals what really goes on in highly secretive -- and notoriously dangerous -- boot camps, a stealth prison system where any teenager under the age of eighteen can be imprisoned at his parents' whim.

 

This book has been graded for interest at 12+ years.

There are 256 pages in this book. This book was published 2010 by Simon & Schuster .

Todd Strasser has written many award-winning novels for adults, teenagers and children including Boot Camp, Can't Get There from Here, Give a Boy a Gun and Girl Gives Birth to Own Prom Date, the latter of which was adapted for the Fox feature film Drive Me Crazy, with script by Rob Thomas. Todd Strasser speaks frequently at schools. He lives in Westchester County, New York.