All of Cormier's books for young adults (except his short-story collection) end pessimistically, a logical outcome of the situations in which the protagonists find themselves; the author has said he feels they are an antidote to the often unrealistic, overly sentimental, and happy endings of books and television programs. Many of Cormier's earlier novels deal with teen-age protagonists who must face serious power struggles, often against indifferent or corrupt persons or institutions, such as the vicious headmaster of Trinity High in The Chocolate War, the mafia or perhaps parts of the United States' government in I Am the Cheese, terrorists from another country in After the First Death, and doctors in an experimental hospital for the terminally ill in.....
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