Before I Knew Him

Before I knew him, when he was still a collection of movements and mannerisms I observed from a distance, when he had no history, no future that I could guess, that is the time I'd have back. Then, he was a boy, like me, though nothing like me. Perhaps it was that, the difference, which drew me to him. But something else, too, more powerful, like the pull of the tide that sucks pebbles back to the sea...Leo Fisch is a young man with a brilliant future ahead of him. He is bright, sociable and on the verge of moving in with his beautiful girlfriend, Kathryn. Outwardly, at least, he seems happy. Then when a sinister discovery is made in a forest near Leo's home town, a figure from childhood re-enters his life.David Caldwell is tough and aggressive; the very opposite of the company Leo now keeps. Unlikely friends, they are bound by a shared summer - and a shared secret - they had promised to forget. As past and present begin to close in, the comfortable life Leo has created for himself starts to unravel. Their terrible truth begins to emerge and Leo must confront not only the awkward, fragile boy he once was, but the events of that summer which threaten to destroy them both...