Caleb Broderick

The Junkyard Kids Caleb Broderick

Witnessing the gruesome murder of his parents and nearly becoming a victim himself, leaves a boy psychologically disturbed and homeless. Along with this, he must protect his younger brother, and years later they form a bond with other young outcasts, eventually taking refuge in an abandoned junkyard. By chance, two criminals stop by the junkyard one night, leading him to witness yet another murder. Shortly after, he kills the murderer in self-defense, and he and his junkyard friends quickly get rid of the bodies and the evidence. Unfortunately, they realize they must leave the city to avoid being caught. However, things take a different turn when they accidentally stumble on the identity of his parents' murderer, and soon they decide to track him down. But before long they learn that the murderer not only stays one step ahead of them but enjoys playing cat and mouse with his pursuers. The protagonist eventually discovers something about his brother that adds more to the search, a search for himself, even while his sanity and heroic efforts to do the right thing seem to circle the drain. His fate is balanced on a knife's edge, almost literally, and the reader is left wondering to the end what will finally happen.