[.ca] Counterfeit Son (ISBN 0142301477)

My Humble Opinion:
As the son of Hank Miller, a murderer, Cameron lives a nightmare. All that he has known throughout his life is abuse. He's become quite familiar with pain, his own agony and that of other unfortunate victims. But when his father is shot and killed by the police while resisting arrest, Cameron seizes the opportunity to adopt the identity of the late Neil Lacey, a boy that his father had abducted six years ago. To his incredible luck, Neil Lacey had loving parents, a brother and sister, expensive luxuries, and an appearance eerily similar to Cameron's. Neil's parents are far too taken with the return of Neil to suspect that he may be another person.The chance to become part of a real family seems all too good to be true. Unfortunately, Cameron's luck stops there. His obstacles include a detective investigating Hank Miller who doesn't believe in this fairy tale ending, Neil's sister who becomes suspicious as she notices the crinkles in Cameron's act and his dad's old friend who knows exactly what Cameron's doing. He lives in fear of the day that he loses his identity as Neil Lacey along with all hopes of a happy life. Cameron is struggling with himself and the secret of his true identity. We peer into the psychological effects his life has had on him. We feel the tension as his secret comes close to being revealed, the fear he has and the guilt as his ethics come pounding on the door. Confused, he mixes up abuse with love. What a tough life for the guy. He's one of those characters that's quite believable. His behaviour is consistent with the personality that would've developed with the kind of life he has led. You'll find yourself holding your breath everytime Cameron comes close to getting busted and wishing for his well-being. The plot is addictive; you have to find out what's going to happen on the next page so you read right through your favourite TV shows. Concluding the book is an ending so unexpected that it might just pull the rug right out from under your feet. I can't really say that there's a book I could compare this to. It's different from any other book I've ever read. You could say that its plot is very original. As for who I'd recommend this book to I think that hesitant readers might like it. The book's not too weighed down with text in a way that would divert readers away but the descriptions give a realistic feel. Many people have complained about lengthy books and have attempted to use that as an excuse to not read at all. Well, too bad for them because Counterfeit Son is nice, compact, and not at all tedious to read. Their "that's a brick disguised as a book" excuses lose all remnants of their validity.

Shocking Surprise:
Elaine Marie Alpin out does herself on this book. With and unbelievably shocking ending, you can't go wrong reading this book. Seeing what torture child abuse is for someone, and just how much it affects your life, is what you will get out of Counterfeit Son. I highly recommend you read this book, you won't be disappointed.

Finding Yourself:
In this captavating novel, the narrative shows a great difference from the way Cameron's Pop showed love, by punishing him with belts resulting in injuries, compared to the love shown by Neil's parents, love through warm and safe embraces as well as good-night kisses. This shift in the opposites of human behavior and the affect it had on Cameron is tremendous. He found that love is not shown by hurting each other, but is shown by wanting what is best for another person. It is a bond that can never be broken, even after years with no contact. Parents punish someone to show a lesson, not because it brings them perverse pleasure in seeing someone they love being hurt. There is a fine line, but a line none the less between love and punishment and in this novel Cameron learns of this line and how love should truly be. This two contrasting relationships are on opposite ends of the human behavioral scale, and the author, Elaine Alphin, does a spectacular job of showing the reactions of these two worlds on a boy our age. She shows the fear he has of being sought out and hurting his new family, as well as being frightened and wanting to go back to his Pop so he can know straight out how to act. The twists and turns of this book take us through the conflicts, internal and external of a young boy trying to deal with problems of great weight. This is what kept me, as a reader, reading and what kept me engaged in this astounding novel.

Deep Characters but Slow Plot:
In this book, Counterfeit Son by Elaine Marie Alphin, the reader is given a very detailed introduction into the life of the main character that we first know as Cameron Miller. As the novel progresses we see that Cameron is in an abusive house and other than just being abused himself, his father kidnaps children from the area where they live and takes them home to beat them as well. The author gets us right inside the mind of Cameron and shows us the obvious mental strain that he has on his mind because of not being able to attend school normally (he's asked about his bruises, etc.), having to come home to be tortured by what is supposed to be his support system, and then on top of it all, to have to bear hearing other kids his age be harmed and/or killed. All of those things are shown ripping Cameron up and right when you think that is going to go on forever, his dad is killed in a stakeout. Now, Cameron, confused and wanting to get away from the abnormal existence he has supposedly had for forever, decides to take up the identity of Neill Lacey and even under the identity of Neill we are still given an extraordinary depth to his character. Overall, though Counterfeit Son has very well developed characterization in the form of Cameron Miller/Neill Lacey, we are not given that strong of a plot, and the characterization seems to slow the story down quite a bit at times.

Counterfiet Son:
Counterfeit Son by Elaine Marie Alphin is a good book. The author does an excellent of job of keeping the reader's attention and adding special events that keep the reader addicted to the story. The author also does an exceptional job at really getting into the mind of Cameron and conveying to us what is going through his brain at certain times. Nevertheless, the thing that Alphin does the best in this story is that she writes about what Cameron is thinking at certain times. She really writes about the emotions and psychological attitudes a boy our age (14 or 15) is living through. The reader is basically brought into the mind of Cameron/Neil Lacey and is able to feel what Cameron is feeling. However, the thing that really kept me reading was to find out how Cameron was able to take the identity of Neil Lacey and not be caught. Another thing was to find out how Cameron would be able to adapt to a totally new life style and try to fit into the shoes of Neil Lacey. Counterfeit Son is a very captivating novel that will leave you with a surprising ending.