A Thousand Steps

 

I really enjoyed T. Jefferson Parker's "A Thousand Steps". Set in Laguna Beach in the late 1960s, Matt is struggling to survive. His mom is stoned all the time and can barely afford rent, let alone enough food to keep a growing 16 year boy fed. Matt has a paper route and relies on scraps from restaurants and the food pantry to survive. When his older sister, Jasmine, goes missing, Matt launches an intense search for her. A few nights after she disappeared, Matt watches a man kidnap her and throw her in a van. The cops aren't impressed with his story and think that he's probably on drugs. Matt is determined to find his sister on his own. 

I loved the nostalgia factor, trying to imagine Laguna in the 60s, when a kid like Matt could still fish in the ocean and catch enough to supplement his meager diet. I wasn't around during that time, but I think Parker really nailed the unrest and unease and uncertainly that gripped the country during the Vietnam War.