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"The little boy went charging across the empty hard sand of the beach. The cliffs rose high to his right; the sea thundered in large, glassy gray clouds. Mist struck his face with force, and the wind tore at the institutional shirt he wore. His face was filled with anguish. . . .

His feet left him. One moment he could feel the sand underneath him, and the next he was out in the waves, being tossed like a cork. His shirt, sopping wet, was almost pulled off his body, and the sea seemed to want his sneakers. The current was so swift, so strong--the outgoing tide grabbed the boy in delight and spun him out to sea. His face bobbed in the waves. All he could taste was salt. All he could see was sun. This is how I die, he thought."

This is Rene Denfeld's powerful opening to her latest novel Sleeping Giants. I am hooked immediately and stay that way throughout the tale.

The plot centers on Brightwood Center, a house for disturbed boys which closed twenty years ago, and the death of Dennis Owen, a 9 year old resident. There is another story arc of Molly, an orphan polar bear in a local zoo, that parallels Dennis' story. Denfeld artfully integrates these seemingly disparate threads.

Sleeping Giants is populated with lost and wounded characters. I meet Amanda, Dennis' younger sister, adopted at birth, who has just discovered that she had an older brother who was reported drowned twenty years earlier. Larry, a recently widowed ex-cop, at loose ends and feeling a lack of purpose, offers to help uncover more of the story. Ralph, the center's former custodian was the product of such a center. Martha King, the center's director has her own story. The other secondary characters also have stories which Denfeld fleshes out enough for me to get to know them.

I am introduced to a therapy called holding time, a coercive restraint therapy. A child is is wrapped tightly inside layers of sheets. At times he or she is tickled or pressed. These techniques are to reduce the child to an infantile state, to break down the child so he can begin again. Many former patients report how devastating this treatment was. It was used for children with attachment disorders in the 1980's until in 2007 when it was placed on a list of treatments that have the potential to cause harm to clients by the Association for Psychological Science.

Denfeld asks me to consider how much harm is done in the name of good? and asks me to consider the motivations that lie under the surface.

While there is a lot of darkness in this story, Denfeld includes pockets of light. There are characters who care for each other, and I see people reaching out to others and helping to catalyze positive change.

Sleeping Giants is both a propulsive mystery and an impassioned appeal to pay attention to and to protect our children. Like her previous novels, she continues to point out the cracks in our foster care system. Denfeld is an underappreciated novelist who uses her skills with words and storytelling to hit hard, emotional truths.

Publication 2024