And it's all all done with a deft hand and an unerring eye for genuine emotion.

What's really interesting about the book being from Jeff's point of view is that the author reveals Jeff's avoidance and self-delusion without our main character really being aware of it, which is a pretty neat trick. He is also kind, curious, confused, and sad beneath the typical teenage guy 'I'm fine' attitude, but this takes a little while to come out. As the narrator, Jeff is hilariously dead-pan, self-deprecating, and easy to listen to. The novel is set up so that each chapter follows a single day in Jeff's 45-day treatment program. And he does not want to talk about what happened with his best friend Allie, and how their relationship changed after she started dating her boyfriend Burke. Neither will the various patients who come and go who keep wanting to fool around with him in the wee hours of the night.Īll Jeff wants to do is to do his time and to get home-partly because his sister Amanda might call dibs on his vacant room. He's in a mental hospital because he tried to slit his wrists on New Year's Eve, he's surrounded by kids who are clearly crazier than he is, and his doctor (nicknamed 'Cat Poop') doesn't seem to understand that there's nothing wrong with him and won't leave him alone. You wouldn't think so based on the title and the subject, but 15-year-old Jeff will have you laughing out loud throughout his story. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot).īelieve it or not, this is actually a really funny book. His work has been nominated for 14 Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book, twice for Best Romance Novel, and once for Best Mystery. He is also the author of the Sickening Adventures series of books featuring popular contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race.Īs a writer for young adults he is the author of the novels Suicide Notes, Z, and Love & Other Curses, and under the name Isobel Bird he wrote the popular 'Circle of Three' series. His novel Lily was a Tiptree Award Longlist title and a finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. His work for adult readers includes the best-selling novels What We Remember, The Road Home, Changing Tides, Full Circle, Looking for It and Last Summer, and his five essay collections in the 'Trials of My Queer Life' series.

Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than 75 books in genres ranging from humor to horror, literary fiction to nonfiction.

Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford