The cover art for this book is very apropos. The book looks like a brown paper wrapped parcel tied with string, reminiscent of the package handed to eleven year old Billy Williams by a stranger in the London subway. The package exploded and killed him. Why Billy? - "the most interesting kid in the world," according to his older sister, Laura. Billy kept a notebook recording his collections - bricks, toilet paper, empty English candy bar wrappers, train and travel tickets, beer coasters, newspapers in foreign languages, his food trades, and his bank records. He was a rounder, but was loved by everyone. He had saved the life of a baby and its mother by wrapping himself around the bomb. Laura cannot get over that her friends cannot see "the gaping, shrieking hole of rage that Billy's death had ripped in her heart." They were "still thinking of boy-girl activities, while she...was thinking of revenge. " This book, written prior to 9/11, portrays an accurate view of terrorism and its aftermath. "The point is to terrify. To show power. To prove they can do whatever they want and hurt whomever they want whenever they want to do it." The Terrorist had been challenged for its negative portrayal of Arabs and Muslims.
"What value did any cause have, if it made people murder each other."
"Our job, as good people, is to try to stop evil where we see it."
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