Summary

As the novel begins, the unnamed narrator states clearly that there were four suspects in the rape of Lindy Simpson and he wastes no time in recounting the basics of the attack. As darkness fell, a man, or perhaps a boy, had waited behind some bushes, holding a rope tied on one end around a tree, waiting to spring on an unsuspecting Lindy. He pulled the rope taut causing her to fall off her bicycle. He pushed her into the ground, gagged her and knocked her out. When she awoke, she stumbled into her home just four doors away, climbed the stairs, took a shower and collapsed on her bed. A short time later, her mother came looking for her and discovered blood stained underwear and her daughter unconscious. And because there was very little evidence at the crime scene, none of the...