ALA Booklist (Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Fifteen-year-old Isaiah "Manz" Martinez and his buddy Jed dream of escaping Rockhill, Texas. Both boys have difficult home lives. Jed's father physically abuses the family. Manz's father died in a car crash, and his young mother is an alcoholic. The boys get work at a ranch building a fence, and Manz falls hard for a pretty girl even as he starts to hear disturbing sounds and voices. Soon the voice he calls the Messenger warns him that "the man is coming to get him" and that his friends and family may be poisoning him. Finally, urged by the voices, Manz flees and drives his car into a river. The story concludes two months later with Manz diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, his prognosis unclear. Though Anderson leaves intriguing plot threads and questions undeveloped, the descriptions of Manz's escalating symptoms are compelling. There are few books for teens on the subject of schizophrenia, so it is unfortunate that no sources of information about the disease are provided. A fast read, this book will provoke discussion and, perhaps, further research.

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

Fifteen-year-old Manz starts the summer working on a ranch, dreaming of other places, and coping with his mother's drinking. But he quickly spirals into a confusing medley of hallucinations and paranoia, as schizophrenia takes over his mind. Manz's family history provides an intriguing backdrop, but his mounting delusions seem too neatly constructed and the resolution isn't entirely satisfying.

Kirkus Reviews

The poignant story of Manz, a 15-year-old boy trying to cope with a dysfunctional relationship with his alcoholic mother and the humming noises, whispering voices and scary visions that only he perceives. Through the teenager's first-person narration, Anderson traces the isolated landscape of Rockhill, a very small town in Texas, and reveals the distressing stories behind the apparent simplicity of its inhabitants' lives. Manz is the son of an undocumented Mexican "Loco" who died in a car accident and a white girl, Delores, who in defiance of her parents gave birth to him at the age of 16. Disillusionment, domestic violence, informants, Border Patrol agents and unsolved crimes are the pieces that form the puzzle of his Anglo community. A strong sense of family, a mystic love for the land and the fear of deportation are the sentiments that he reads in the mysterious people of triangular eyes and dark skin, the Mexican Americans. A sad and thought-provoking exploration of mental illness. (Fiction. YA)

School Library Journal (Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Gr 9 Up-When Manz and his friend Jed get a job on a cattle ranch mending fences, they always see illegal immigrants from Mexico line up for scant day jobs in Rockhill, TX. The teen begins to worry that "the Man" will discover that he is half-Mexican and deport him. He has a near-constant humming in his ear, which is sometimes so loud that he can't hear anything else. He meets Vanessa Ortiz and attends her family barbecue, where Mr. Ortiz describes "Operation Wetback," a cruel repatriation of illegal immigrants deep in the jungles of Mexico after World War II. Soon, Manz becomes convinced that the authorities are out to get him. Also, it's becoming more difficult for him to ignore his mother's drinking. She recognizes the signs of mental illness in himhis father, Loco, exhibited many of the same behaviors before his fatal car wreckand she urges her son to get help. He refuses, as he is increasingly convinced his mother is part of the government's plot to deport him. Manz manages to connect with Jed's younger sister, who is supportive, even in the face of her unpredictable father's rage. Short chapters and clear descriptions of Manz's hallucinatory experiences provide a harrowing but sympathetic glimpse into his struggles to combat his deteriorating condition. The first-person narrative gives readers a poignant close-up of the teen's gradual loss of control to paranoid schizophrenia. Anderson's vivid portrayal of this frightening illness nevertheless offers hope for the valiant human spirit. Roxanne Myers Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green