Project X is good. I thought PClem's review from way back in November was pretty much on the money:

Here's one for you, easily the best new book I've read all year: Project X by Jim Shepard. It starts out weird and kind of funny and slowly disintegrates into a troublesome, crushing tragedy. This guy can write. There's no bullshit, no fluff. He really gets inside a kid's mind. When you think you know what's going to happen, Shepard changes direction.

All I'd add is that the tragic engine here is so visceral and so spooky-real that you don't exactly want to read on but also can't put the book down. Like PClem I only wish that it were longer; I think I'd like a sequel (Project Y?) to explore what happens after.

I understand why the book ends where it ends; to borrow the language of physics, the book culminates in a kind of narrative singularity, beyond which continuing the story is impossible. But still...the story's not over. I need to know more.

Also, Jim Shepard apparently attended Randolph Intermediate School between 1992 and 1994. I remember all this. Except, you know, that.

The paperback comes out April 12th.