Points After Abuse

Kyle Cook is in tenth grade. His father died in a car accident when Kyle was eleven. He lives with his mother and his fourteen-year-old sister. He kicks field goals and extra points after touchdowns for his high school football team. He also harbors, in the deep recesses of his mind, a horrible secret of a past event. Kyle's secret has lain dormant, its effects on him hardly noticeable to his family and his friends until his awakening sexual interests cause the influences of Kyle's earlier trauma to arise and become noticeable in his behavior. Kyle's abnormal behavior threatens to rend asunder his family's cohesion. Kyle's mother wisely involves him in therapeutic counseling. Although his counselor may be physically limited as she is confined to a wheel chair, her intuition and skilled intervention with Kyle are unfettered. Kyle soon seems on the road to recovery until one more catastrophe, the cause rooted in Kyle's past, threatens to destroy all that he has been able to accomplish. The author hopes that 'Points After Abuse' will provide insight for young adults both to the effects that trauma may have on one's behavior and to the importance of being open when engaging in a counseling relationship in order to maximize the benefits of that relationship. There are other novels that deal with similar issues: like 'Speak', by Laurie Anderson, and 'Dreamland' by Sarah Dessen. Both books feature female protagonists. 'Points After Abuse' focuses on a male protagonist.