Billy — Grace Jelsnik

In the first book in the William Young series, Billy Young narrates his transition from bullied to heroic. A child materializes on a dark highway, and Billy runs his pickup into a boulder while swerving to avoid her. From that moment on, Billy's life is no longer his own. From the high school bully who teaches him to take the path of least resistance to the wife who chooses that path for him, Billy follows where he is led. He thinks he makes choices, but choices are made for him by sinister forces who hold him in reserve should they ever need him. Twelve years later, that need arises, and he's compelled back home to serve as bait in a lethal game of hide-and-seek where children do the hiding and madmen do the seeking. With the help of two eleven-year-old children and a devoted dog, Billy breaks free from his past, and when he finally becomes his own person, the madmen begin to die.

Billy is the first book in a three-part romantic light fantasy, one in which the romance is wholly one-sided until the final book. Although based on realistic characters and using a realistic setting, the series offers a unique interpretation of the ancient Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses. The emphasis is on betrayals, especially between close friends and family members, taking a close look at coping methods as well as failures to cope. Told by three different narrators, one per book, the perspectives shift, depending upon point of view. What one character may find perfectly innocuous may seem horribly malicious to another and vice versa. Throughout the series, Molliere addresses such issues as infidelity, child abuse, unrequited love, drug addiction, coming of age, and personal growth, all through the perspectives of three different voices.