Description
After the murder-suicide of his parents, Calvin leaves Hame (the poor Detroit suburb he grew up in) to go live with his aunt in Hillside (the wealthiest city in Michigan), where he will begin his junior year of high school. Only a couple days into the new school year, one of Hillside High's students commits suicide by jumping off the nearby Trowbridge. According to local legend, long ago five teens all jumped off this bridge, one every thirty minutes, until the final jump was made at midnight. They all lay dead on the ground below.
A day after the suicide, Calvin meets a new group of friends in school, one of whom is obsessed with this bridge and becoming famous. No more than one month into the school year, Calvin and each of his new friends experience inescapable conflicts that will ruin their lives forever, which leads them to make a pact to reenact the legend on Trowbridge and take their own lives.
"You create teenage characters who are suffering in different but similar ways, who are—literally, we come to realize—dying inside," wrote award-winning author/editor David Aretha. "You bring us so close to them that we empathize tremendously with each. Frankly, we grow to love them, making each of their demises riveting and poignant…. This story has a powerful heartbeat throughout."