Knifeboy : A Novel

Dared to be a knife salesman, freshman Ted soon finds he's using any means possible to rise up the ranks, in this disturbing but poignant coming of age novel.

Jay Hauser is wrapping up his freshman year at Dartmouth when his friend Stuart offers him a chance to make some real money over the summer break selling knives. Jay takes the job after Isabelle, his friend and the girl he is madly in love with, tells him that he isn''t charming enough to pull it off. Now he has something to prove.

Jay''s quest quickly becomes an obsession as he works his way up in the cult-like world of knife selling using any means possible - mostly lying, cheating, and manipulating (though not stealing) - to win the summer sales competition.

Eventually, Jay is neck-deep in a truly odd subculture that is harder to break away from than he ever imagined. Add to the mix a hostile mother, a girlfriend that he isn''t in love with, a best friend that he is in love with, a brother who doesn''t like the fact that he''s turned into a sleazy salesman and the very real possibility of not returning to school for his Sophomore year - and what is normally a vacation for the average college kid becomes a full-blown existential crisis that will leave readers wondering whether to laugh or cry. And they just might do both.

KNIFEBOY is a satiric and often hilarious peek at a cult-like "profession", but at its heart, it is a story about young love, fear, and self-acceptance.