Tenderness: A Novel

Front Cover
Delacorte Press, 1997 - Fiction - 229 pages
Eighteen-year-old Eric has just been released from juvenile detention formurdering his mother and stepfather. Now he's looking fortenderness--tenderness he finds in caressing and killing beautiful girls.

Fifteen-year-old Lori has run away from home again. Emotionally naive butsexually precocious, she is also looking for tenderness--tenderness she findsin Eric. Will Lori and Eric be each other's salvation or destruction? Toldfrom their alternating points of view, this harrowing thriller speeds to itsfateful conclusion with an irresistible force, and a final twist that will notbe easily forgotten.

Click here to read the "Tenderness" Reader's Companion, whichincludes suggested discussion topics and an interview with Robert Cormier.

*"Cormier is in top form in this cilling portrait...a sense of 'tenderness' pervades this gripping tale."
-- "School Library Journal," starred review

"Cormier's latest is a mesmerizing plunge into the mind of a psychopathic teenkiller that is both deeply disturbing and utterly compelling."
-- "Booklist"

"A serial killer; an aging cop with a hunch; an impulsive 15-year-oldrunaway: Three familiar characters are spun by a master of suspense intoanother disturbing study in emotional dysfunction."
-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"Rarely has Cormier's irony been darker...readers will stay on the edge of their seats."
-- "Publishers Weekly"

From inside the book

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
12
Section 3
22
Copyright

16 other sections not shown

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About the author (1997)

Robert Cormier began writing novels for adults, but established his reputation as an author of books for young adults, earning critical acclaim with three books, each of which were named New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year: The Chocolate War (1974), I Am the Cheese (1977), and After the First Dark (1979). Cormier was born on January 17, 1925, in Leominster, Mass., where his eighth-grade teacher first discovered his ability to write. Cormier worked as a commercial writer at WTAG-Radio in Worcester, Mass. He also worked as a newspaper reporter and columnist at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and at the Fitchburg Sentinel. Cormier received the Best Human Interest Story of the Year Award from the Associated Press of New England in 1959 and 1973. He also earned the Best Newspaper Column Award from K.R. Thomson Newspapers, Inc., in 1974. Cormier, who is sometimes inspired by news stories or family events, is known for having serious themes in his work, such as manipulation, abuse of authority, and the ordinariness of evil. These themes are also evident in many of his more than 15 books.

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