The Passage — Thomas William Simpson

Josh Tailor is on a roll. But not a good one. Josh has been hanging out with the losers. Swiping lumber for their clubhouse down by the river. Smoking grass. Drinking beer. Stealing Mom's brand new Beetle convertible out of the driveway. Smashing it into a telephone pole. Almost killing himself and several of his buds. Josh is a good kid… on a bad track. The Passage -- every boy has to make one. Some do it with more success than others. Josh's mom is at wit's end. It's gotten so bad she actually called her ex, Big Jack Tailor. Big Jack has been estranged from his wife and son for years. Josh sees him, but rarely, and never for long. He hates his old man, but, of course, he also worships Big Jack and secretly longs to be part of Big Jack's shadowy life. Big Jack rolls into town and offers to take Josh on a cross country adventure -- Jersey to Montana. Big Sky Country. Josh is gung ho to go but Mom says no way. Josh, 15, says he's going whether she approves or not. Mom relents. Off they go, father and son. Along the way they encounter cops, Indians, arms dealers, angst, pathos, militiamen, ATF agents, and plenty of trouble. The trip will change both of them, especially Josh, who will begin to understand what it takes to become a man. The Passage is a full-bodied American novel, a kind of modern day Huckleberry Finn with Josh in the role of Huck and Big Jack in the role of Jim, a man trying to find and define freedom. Fathers and Sons, the Open Road, the Wide Open West, the Plains, the Rockies, the difficulties of Love and Truth, the Frailty of the Human Condition -- all this rides inside The Passage. If you've read Thomas William Simpson's novel The Gypsy Storyteller you will enjoy The Passage, an adventure story about loyalty and responsibility and the unbreakable bond between a father and a son.