Boy's Life

Awarded the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1992, bestselling author Robert R. McCammon’s novel Boy's Life (1991) is considered by most readers and critics to be his greatest work. The novel is set in the 1960s and through the narrative, the author makes observations about changes in America at that time, with particular emphasis on the Civil Rights Movement.

Cory Mackenson is an eleven-year-old boy in 1964. This novel follows Cory's adventures that year, including his attempts to solve a murder by which his father has been haunted since inadvertently witnessing the disposal of the body. The novel opens as Cory wakes up early to help his father, Tom Mackenson, work his milk route. They are driving through their small town of Zephyr, Alabama, and talking about Cory’s plans for the future. Suddenly, they are both shocked to see a car cross the road in front of them and plunge straight into Saxon’s Lake.

Cory’s father pulls over and dives into the lake in an attempt to rescue the driver. When he reaches the man, however, he realizes that even before plunging into the lake he was dead, having been beaten to death. Someone has stripped the dead man naked and handcuffed him to the steering wheel to prevent his body from ever rising to the surface again. Cory and his father rush to the nearest house, a brothel owned by Grace, and from there they call the police.



Cory spends the rest of the year trying to uncover who is behind the murder, while keeping himself busy with school and his social life. Cory’s father gives him permission to go camping with two of his friends. The boys walk deep into the woods before picking the perfect spot to settle down for the night. When the boys notice a strange car driving past their campsite, they decide to investigate. They spy on the car as a second one arrives and the passengers conduct some kind of business transaction. The men spot the boys and chase them through the woods; Cory is separated from his friends. The next day, Cory sees a girl skinny-dipping in a pond. The girl takes him home, cleans his wounds, and arranges for him to get a ride to a phone.

A short time later, riding his bike in town, Cory is kidnapped by Donny Blaylock, one of the men he saw transacting business during his camping trip. Donny plans to hurt Cory, but instead, he is distracted by the memory of a man he killed on that road. There is a car accident and Cory is freed while Donny is arrested for murder.

When Cory learns that the vet and his wife had a green parrot in their home the night the stranger from Saxon's Lake was killed and that they both are allergic to milk and therefore would not have thought of seeing a milkman out before dawn, he begins to suspect they killed the man at Saxon’s Lake. At the same time, Cory's father finally goes to see the Lady after he goes to her for help dismantling a bomb. At this meeting, Cory's father is told the number thirty-three is important. The only thing Tom can find with that number is a bus that comes to town every other day.



Tom takes a job at the gas station where the bus drops off passengers and waits. On the day someone finally gets off the bus, Cory goes to the vet's house to spy on him, to try to prove he killed that stranger. Tom learns that the dead stranger was a Neo-Nazi who helped hide a couple of German officers in Zephyr years before. The man came to town to blackmail these Germans to start a new life.

However, when Tom learns the German officer was a veterinarian, he begins to suspect Dr. Lezander, the local vet. Tom and his new companions go to the vet's house where they discover Cory is being held against his will. Dr. Lezander takes off with Cory. Tom follows. When they reach the road that runs beside Saxon's Lake, the triceratops comes out of the woods and attacks Dr. Lezander's car, pushing it into the water. Tom saves Cory but can do nothing for Dr. Lezander.

Cory returns to Zephyr many years later with his own family. The town was abandoned after the paper mill closed down in the 1970s. Cory drives to all his familiar haunts, finally stopping at his family's home. Before leaving, Cory decides to drive to the Thaxter mansion. There, Cory discovers that the mansion was given to an orphanage for boys and several people he knew in childhood still live there, working with the little boys.