For [I am the Cheese] Robert Cormier has returned to the theme which dominated his outstanding earlier book, The Chocolate War: that of innocence and morality destroyed by the ruthless ambition of the masters of a corrupt society. In The Chocolate War, this society was a private school, and the victim a boy who alone stood out against corruption. Now, in I am the Cheese, Robert Cormier has extended this dark theme. The hero is an unwilling, uncomprehending and truly innocent victim of a greater, more hideous conspiracy; the corrupt society is our own, and the innocent victim must be completely destroyed in order to sustain it.

At first sight, the narrative construction of the novel seems difficult and pretentious…. As the novel nears its end, the point and meaning of the book's construction become plain, and the narrative strands combine in a climax of depressing violence and...