Dillon Hemmingway is not your average sixteen-year-old jock.
He's as smart and tender as he is big and athletic. But his
intellect can't make sense of his older brother's suicide. And his
heart can't reconcile his blossoming romantic feelings for his best
friend, Jennifer Lawless --- nor her puzzling reaction to the
changes.

To help him cope with the emotional details, Dillon turns to a
journal --- letters to a brother dead and gone. In time, he comes
to understand that he and Jennifer have more than sports in common.
They share a deep sense of guilt and long-standing pain. And in
recognizing their similarities, they also intuitively realize they
can help each other overcome their fears.

In CHINESE HANDCUFFS, Chris Crutcher draws from his experience as
an athlete, educator and therapist to create realistic teenage
characterizations. He crafts an unflinching story that deals with
the dirty little secrets of incest, rape, suicide and emotional
abuse. While we'd like to think these topics are foreign to young
adults, the truth is, they are facts of life all too real.

CHINESE HANDCUFFS tells the story of fear and isolation, of
hopelessness and intimidation. But it also tells the tale of escape
and redemption --- of courageously putting fear behind us in favor
of lasting personal power.

Like all Crutcher novels, CHINESE HANDCUFFS offers no easy answers,
no happily-ever-after lies. Like all Crutcher novels, this is the
story of hope; the celebration of heroics, one brave step at a
time. It is a riveting read for even reluctant reader teens --- and
any adult that loves them.

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