Reviews

``In his first novel, Bradfield composes a verbal fantasia on the theme of a young felon's confused feelings and reckless misdeeds.'' A psychotic seven-year-old and his mother drift around California, murdering and thieving. This ``offers the fruits of a rich novelistic imagination,'' wrote PW. (Aug.)

This ambitious first novel, with its echoes of everything from Oedipus Rex to Camus and Mishima, concerns the exploits of an eight-year-old California psychopath. Phillip Davis and his mother travel the highways, living by their wits and occasionally settling down with various men his mother meets. Wanting mom totally to himself and desiring the more ``authentic'' existence of the road, Phillip contrives ways to eliminate all rivals, culminating with an attempt to murder his returned father. Phillip is a perversely fascinating character--alienated, self-educated, and intellectually mature beyond his years, a prepubescent existentialist who finds killing a redemptive act. But ultimately he is so advanced as to be unbelievable, casting doubts on Bradfield's intention and considerably weakening the novel's impact.-- Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.