Monster

There are moments when I think I've wandered into the midst of a movie. Perhaps I could direct my own film. My life narrative will be told in the movie. No, this experience, not my life. I'll go by what the prosecutor, a woman, called me. Monstrous.

Court of Interior Fade In. Behind Steve, a guard occupies a desk. Steve's lawyer Kathy O'Brien is all business when she speaks with Steve.

'Brien O

I want to make sure you know what's happening. You are on trial for criminal murder, along with this king persona. As bad as it gets is Felony Murder. You just sit there and pay attention while you're in court. You communicate to the jury your belief that the matter is as important as theirs...

Steve.

Do you believe we will prevail?

O'Brien (with gravity)

Probably depends on your definition of "win."

Steve Harmon, 16, is a defendant in a murder trial. Steve is said to have been the watch for the Harlem pharmacy owner who was shot and murdered inside his establishment.

Whether Steve is guilty or innocent, "the system," which is populated by cynical officials and dishonest prisoners who would flip on anybody to have their terms shortened, uses Steve as a pawn. Steve is confronted with the possibility of spending the rest of his life in jail, which forces him to consider his identity for the first time.

An amateur filmmaker named Steve makes the decision to write a screenplay about his trial in order to cope with the awful events that ensnare him. He chronicles the account of how his whole life was changed in an instant, scene after scene. However, despite his best attempts, reality becomes hazy and his eyesight becomes blurry until he is unable to distinguish between reality and himself. The greatest writing of Walter Dean Myers may be found in this gripping book.