Like many modern writers, Robert Cormier writes disturbing books. What's unusual is that Cormier writes almost exclusively for children. And unlike in the happier works of other authors, you won't find fantasy creatures, warm sun-dappled fields, and deep, tender friendships in Cormier's books. Instead, in I Am the Cheese, you have two equally bleak narratives vying for your attention right from the beginning. In the first narrative, a young boy pedals his bike furiously, trying to go home but finding that the world around him has inexplicably transformed into something unfamiliar, almost alien. And in the second narrative, presented as a transcript of a series of interrogations, a nameless interrogator attempts to evoke questions from a disturbed young boy who keeps lapsing into silence just when the questions get interesting.

In the chapters of the young boy riding his bike, Cormier effectively describes the boy's increasing horror as his world seemingly falls apart. His parents aren't home; the phone number of an old friend is answered by a strange voice; an address he knows is significant turns out to be a dilapidated motel instead. The interrogation chapters, given their Q&A format, are less evocative, but they also nevertheless dole out just enough information to keep the reader intrigued.

The result is a creepy combination of the two plot threads. You know they're related, and each one borrows from the other in key parts. But you don't know what the full story is tying together the two threads. The gaps in the story become more and more unsettling as the book progresses, creating one of the eeriest non-horror atmospheres you're likely to encounter in a children's novel.

Unfortunately, the ultimate payoff--the big revelation that ties everything together--is a bit anticlimactic. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but given the suspenseful build-up, the pay-off was, well, disappointingly normal. Fortunately, it explains everything pretty well, and it gives a particularly poignant twist to the bike-riding plot thread; it's just too bad that the power of the conclusion wasn't commensurate with the forcefulness of the rising action.

Nevertheless, I Am the Cheese is an excellent book, one that adults will enjoy--and children, I imagine, will absolutely love.

Copyright © 2003 Steven Wu