'Shy' follows the interior monologue of a troubled teen boy
Max Porter's compulsively readable primal scream of a novel offers a compassionate portrait of boy jerked around by uncontrollable mood swings that lead to self-sabotaging decisions.
Max Porter has become something of a patron saint of troubled boys — and of parents under pressure.
Shy is the third and shortest of his trio of largely unplotted, unconventional, neo-modernist novels involving unhappy lads and their stressed parents. It's also his first not to rely on an odd supernatural being to help save the day. (Though a couple of dead badgers play an unusual role in this latest dark scenario.)
