Inside Out

In a busy coffee shop, a robbery goes wrong.

Two gunmen hold seven hostages, including teenager Zach Wahhsted. What nobody realizes at first is that Zach is anything but ordinary and his troubled mind is more dangerous than any weapon.

Crowded into a tiny back room, the frightened captives can only watch as the teenage robbers struggle to maintain control. While the others brace for sudden gunfire, Zach is locked in an escalating struggle against cruel voices that no negotiator can calm.

When the captors offer to release the crowd, Zach chooses to remain behind in exchange for a promise that his doctor can deliver his overdue pills. As the standoff stretches into the dark, a missed dose threatens to shatter the fragile control holding his reality together.

Terry Trueman has created a compelling character with the same shocking power and heartbreaking compassion as his Printz Honor Award debut novel, Stuck in Neutral.

Ages 12+

• Mental Illness: Tormented by the hateful internal voices of Dirtbag and Rat, Zach struggles to distinguish his terrifying hallucinations from the armed crisis unfolding around him.
• Unlikely Allies: Rather than turning against his captors, Zach recognizes two terrified peers whose desperate family crisis mirrors his own painful search for understanding.
• Also by This Author: Stuck in Neutral, Cruise Control and 7 Days at the Hot Corner.