I am a fan of Ben Winters, eagerly waiting for and devouring his next novel, and hoping to bring his work to more readers’ attention. He creates unique, believable characters, and I find his protagonists are interesting, smart people I wish I knew, and am motivated to follow through his stories. There is a real art to creating characters the reader cares about, and Winters has that gift. He mashes genre in a way I find fascinating— detective fiction, dystopia, suspense, and a dash of science fiction. His plots swerve and weave, with mostly unpredictable developments. The Quiet Boy, his latest, delivers all of this and more.

Jay Shenk is an ambulance-chasing medical malpractice attorney—how can this be a likeable character? And yet, Shenk has a sunny disposition that is humorous and infectious. He seeks out and becomes the attorney representing Richard and Beth Keener, after their fifteen-year old son Wesley suffers a head injury, operated on to release brain pressure, and immediately develops a bizarre set of behaviors. Wes walks the room from end to end, zombie-like, not talking, not making eye contact, deadened. He doesn’t eat, sleep, use the bathroom, and over time, doesn’t grow. Jay, with the help of his fourteen-year old son Reuben, tries to find proof that the hospital made a mistake, seeking an expert who can testify and explain what has happened to Wes. Reuben meets the Keener’s younger child, Evelyn, helping her adjust to the sadness and trauma of her brother’s tragedy.

The story soon divides into two timelines, one following Jay building his case, and a second timeline ten years hence, when Reuben is pulled by his father back into the Keener’s lives when Richard claims to have killed the original expert witness in Wes’s case. Reuben methodically investigates the killing, teasing apart the event and background circumstances, solving not only the killing, but gaining further insights into Wes’s condition. Winters hints at larger meanings behind Wes’s condition, but leaves readers to ponder these meanings for themselves. Is the quiet boy Wes? Or is he Reuben, who comes into his own strength, perseverance, tenderness, intelligence, and finds his voice. This story is interesting as a detective tale, as an existential inquiry, and as a legal novel. This book would provide good material for book discussion groups. I hope more readers give Winters a chance, then go back and discover The Last Policeman trilogy (https://www.margueritereads.com/home/the-last-policeman-by-ben-winters). Recommended.