LS 5623 Inside Out

Trueman, Terry. Inside Out. HarperCollins: New York: 2003.

ISBN: 0-16-623962-1

Zach Wahhsted has schizophrenia and a much regimented meds schedule. One day, when he walks into a local coffee shop to wait for his mom (and meds) after school, he walks into a dangerous situation. Two young men are robbing the place. The young men take the people in the shop hostage. Zach just wants a maple bar and his meds; the hostage-takers assume he is “retarded” by the way he asks questions – he just wants make sure everything he is seeing is real because he can’t trust his own senses. Zach is also tormented by two voices, Dirtbag and Rat; they make his life miserable.

Zach, in spite of, or perhaps because of, his condition fares rather well during and in the aftermath of the situation. The story is interspersed with communiqué between Zach’s doctor and his mom, giving better understanding of his situation. Dirtbag and Rat also show up as footers on certain pages, illustrating just how intertwined Zach and his imaginary tormenters are.

Inside Out is a great story full of suspense and action. Readers are immediately taken to the situation with the first sentence: “All I want is a maple bar, but I don’t think these kids with guns care about what I want.” Zach focuses on the here and now, as do many teens, but with a difference, he’s never really sure what he is imagining or what is real. Suspense carries the story forward, what are the hostage-takers going to do? Will Zach say or do anything that could endanger him or the others there? There is a hint of mystery involved: why are these boys robbing the shop and what does it have to with their mom? That the book is short and leaves you wanting more is a good thing where the sole purpose of the brevity could be to give a peak into a person’s life that some of us would run away from if they started acting less than normal. The ending mock-up of a news article is shocking and really brings the affects of mental illness to a fine and disturbing point to sometimes expect the unexpected when all seems to be going well.

The August 2003 issue of Publisher’s Weekly states about Inside Out: “Despite the suspenseful story line, this is ultimately a book about understanding and empathy; the climax is surprising, logical and moving.” If readers enjoyed this book, they also might like Trueman’s Printz Honor Book, Stuck in Neutral.