As harrowing as Lord of the Flies and as unsettling as Larry Clark's Kids, Bully is the true story of an unspeakable act of revenge committed by ordinary, middle-class teenagers. Unlike anything you have ever heard of - or even imagined - before, Bully reveals the virulent hatred and lust for control that lurked within one boy. At once startling and mesmerizing, Bully asks just what kind of vengeance is justified for society's cruelest people. Jim Schutze's trademark.

Precision and investigative savvy bring us into the confusing, duplicitous world of Bobby Kent and Marty Puccio, who grew up together in a peaceful beach community of Fort Lauderdale. Best buddies since boyhood, they shared a love for fast cars, fun-loving girls, and their weight-toned bodies. At their core, however, the boys couldn't have been more different. Marty was gentle and kind and would go to any length to please others. Bobby, meanwhile, was a bully. His spirit.

Was mean, his will strong, and his modus operandi sadism. Bobby's ambition was to rule his pack and to dominate Marty and his girlfriend, Lisa. At the end of the eleventh grade, their psychological, physical, and sexual weaknesses were Bobby's prey. What these suburban teenagers did one night on the swampy edge of the Everglades is a harrowing commentary on our society and the intensity of adolescent rage. But just as startling are the lengths to which the kids' parents.

Went to protect their young and what their actions reveal about the meaning of individual responsibility at the close of the century.