Border Crossing

(Paperback)

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Manz is sure of one thing: he lives on the wrong side of the tracks in dusty Rockhill, Texas. Life is tough for everyonehis hard-drinking mother, her truck-driving boyfriend, even his privileged friend Jedbut especially for Manz, the mixed-race son of migrant apple pickers. If he could only get out of town, his life would be better.

When the summer heat sets in, Manz and Jed take a job rebuilding fence for a cattle ranch outside town. There he meets Vanessa, who works in the ranchs kitchen. The two hit it off, but Manz isnt sure he can trust her. As the dog days drag on, Manz must negotiate an unwieldy terrain involving his unpredictable mother, a best friend whose father uses him as a punching bag, and a simmering, creeping delusion that Operation Wetbackwhich brutally relocated illegal aliens deep in Mexican territory following World War IIhas been put back into effect. Manzs bright and questioning mind begins to give in to its own claustrophobic temptations as he finds guidance in the voices that have been growing louder and more insistent each day.

A revealing look a one young mans struggle with identity and the effects of schizophrenia.