Jacked Up

It’s bad enough that Nick’s sister is dead, and, in some bizarre attempt to force him to confront his grief, his parents are shipping him off to Jesus camp. But he’s also being followed around by Jack Kerouac, who’s incredibly annoying for a genius.

If arguing with a dead beat poet doesn’t qualify him for antipsychotics already, Nick’s pretty sure Eden Springs is going to drive him insane. The campers ride donkeys into the desert, snap selfies with counselors dressed as disciples, and replace song lyrics with Bible verses. And somehow, only Nick seems to find this strange.

Worst of all is the PC Box, into which the campers gleefully place daily prayers and confessions. With Jack nagging him to do it, Nick scribbles down his darkest secret—about his sister’s death—and drops it in the box.

But then the box is stolen, with Nick’s secret inside of it. And when campers’ confessions start appearing around the camp, Nick is desperate to get the box back—before the world learns the truth about what he did. The truth he can’t even face himself.

Laugh-out-loud funny, surreal, and insightful, this is an unforgettable novel about the strangeness of life, death, and grief—and the even stranger things people do to cope.