In this debut novella, a group of Americans can’t escape the inevitability of violence.

Gracie is the daughter of a hardened criminal. Her father is a known murderer who always carries a gun and gets drunk every night. Gracie can’t help but witness some of his ferocity, as when a carjacker tries stealing her dad’s beloved car. Elsewhere, young Robbie regularly fishes with his adult friend Paw Paw. The two, as people of color, habitually deal with bigots. But Paw Paw is an “old school” gangster who uses his giant hands to fight to the death. This book contains an assortment of narrators, each with a tie to someone else. There’s a man who retires after winning the lottery. Now he has everything he wants, but when he sets his sights on a young girl, he’s practically welcoming trouble. One boy grows up in a household with devout Christian parents. This entails summers at a camp that teaches outdoor survival. There, he trains with guns and learns combat skills, which he uses during savage confrontations with other “followers.” Gherardi’s brisk but grim story cycles through a plethora of irredeemable characters. The innocent titular youngsters are surrounded by killers, racists, and child abusers. The author deftly shifts among clearly defined characters with discernible narrative voices. Likewise, the nonlinear tale’s varying time periods, though unspecified, are never confusing. For example, some characters note another’s death only for the deceased to narrate a later chapter. In this absorbing story, Gherardi’s relaxed prose reads like people relaying their tales to others. Robbie, describing his mother’s unfortunate state, says: “Mom was on the bad path. No fairy tale ending to her story. Close to the end, I hate to admit. Looking skinnier and weaker every time I saw her. Looked like she was losing hair, too.”

A bleak, engrossing tale of the seemingly endless damage that brutality causes.