Toby Malone adores his older brother, Jake. He’s the cool one, the MVP of the baseball team, the one who can charm their mother into anything. Toby, Jake, and their little brother, Eli, have always had an easy, joking friendship, where it’s the three of them against the world.

But ever since Toby’s father left, his mother seems deflated and resigned. Eli has gone back to sucking his thumb. And Jake is becoming distant and secretive. As Toby struggles to keep his family together, Jake drifts further and further away. Only Toby knows why: Jake is slipping into drug use, the way their father slipped into alcohol before he disappeared. Toby tries to cover up for Jake. But his efforts backfire, only adding to the growing tension between the two brothers -- until Jake finally goes too far.

“In Cut, Patricia McCormick’s terrific debut novel, the narrator cuts herself in order to feel something. . . . Her second novel, My Brother’s Keeper, cuts even more deeply.” -- New York Times Book Review

Patricia McCormick is a journalist and writer. She is the author of the novels Cut and Sold. She lives in New York City.