“You could say that my railroad, the Madham Line, is almost the most important thing in my life. Next to Andy Morrow, my best friend.” Andy and the model railroad on which Doug obsessively works are the two positive elements in Doug’s life. He’s the bullies’ target at school, and spying through her bedroom window at night is clearly the closest he’ll ever get to the girl of his dreams. Readers will soon question some of the holes in Doug’s unreliable narrative, especially why Andy, a popular athlete and actor, would stay so committed to a boy with whom he has nothing in common. And why does Doug always avoid commenting on what happened a few years ago at the Tuttle Place, an abandoned house where he and Andy used to spend time? Not even his therapist can get him to revisit those events. When Doug’s secret is revealed, readers may have seen it coming but will still be shaken by the unsettling reality of Doug’s mental illness in this disturbing and gripping story. (Ages 12–15)