The Crossfire Trilogy

Winner of the Saints & Sinner's Emerging Writer of the Year Award

Two Boys. One Forbidden Love.

That is the dilemma sixteen-year-old Jonathan Cooper faces when he goes away to Spirit Lake Bible Camp, an oasis for teen believers situated along Minnesota's rugged north shore. He is expecting a summer of mosquito bites and bonfires with S'mores.

What he isn't expecting is Ian McGuire, a new camper who openly argues against phrases like pray the gay away. Ian is certain of many things, including what could happen between them if only Jonathan could face his feelings.

First it's a rumor. Then it's a fact. And then it's on.

Camp is over and Jonathan Cooper returns home to life with his mother whose silence is worse than anything she could say, to his varsity soccer teammates at East Bay Christian Academy, to the growing rumors about what he did with a boy last summer at Bible camp.

All the important lines blur. Between truth and lies. Between friends and enemies. Between reality and illusion.

Just when Jonathan feels the most alone, Ian McGuire comes to town on the night of the Homecoming Dance and tensions explode.

There's a time for action. Then there's a time for justice.

It is time to lie. To his parents, who think he’s on a ski trip with Pete Mitchell when he’s really gone to Madison to search for someone to testify on behalf of his boyfriend, Ian McGuire, who is facing the charge of assault and battery. To Ian’s parents, who have erased him from their lives. Even to himself. Because admitting his feelings for Mason Kellerman isn’t an option.

It is also time to face the truth. That lies save no one, and. whether he likes it or not, it is time to take the stand.

Juliann Rich