Bill McCoy believes that his major winter challenge will be surviving two weeks of being the wrestling "dummy" for Blake Proper. Bill, a sophomore at Lionwood High, is committed to helping prepare his senior teammate for making a run at the state wrestling championship. On a daily basis, Bill knows he will be pummeled and pinned when the two boys work together after school on the school's wrestling mats. However, a bigger challenge for Bill arises when his thirteen-year-old sister, Diana, is accused of coercing younger brother, Jack, into an inappropriate sexual act. Bill's overbearing dictatorial father reacts to the news about his son and daughter in a characteristically irrational fashion. He refuses to allow Diana to reside any longer in the McCoy home and blocks Mrs. McCoy's desire to visit Diana when Diana is temporarily assigned by the juvenile court system to a juvenile detention center. When Diana disavows her involvement with her younger brother to Diana's court appointed therapist, Carrie Thompson, Bill becomes the go-between. He seeks help in his role of diplomatic liaison between his parents and Carrie and his sister from Susan Myers with whom he has developed a tentative, budding romance. Susan's and Bill's relationship, rapidly strengthening by their respect and concern for each other, is juxtaposed with the debilitating and gradually disintegrating relationship of Bill's father and mother. Bill's maturation is evident as he struggles to assist in the healing of his sister, to deal with his difficult father, and to manage his own romance. The Go Between also reveals both a family whose unstable relationships are exposed and shattered by the ill conceived behavior of daughter with son and the processes followed by social services in their attempts to remedy the emotional damage that results from the family's incest. The story also tactfully illuminates a current trend in the sexual experimentation of high school students.
About the Author: Richard Read attended Bucknell University and graduated with a B.A. in English. He also participated as a distance runner on the Bucknell track team and served as president of his fraternity. He worked for one year in New York City before teaching with the Peace Corps in Ehiopia/Eritrea. Upon returning to the U.S., he did mental health counseling in Erie, PA. and then spent twenty-five years as a school counselor in Corry, PA. He also coached boys and girls high school basketball and administered an adult basic education program. When he retired, he worked part-time as a family counselor with sexually abused children. He and his wife, Maria, raised two daughters who are now professional women. In addition to his fictional writing, Mr. Read enjoys visiting his grandchildren, training with a running club, competing in road races and sprint triathlons, and playing basketball with the current teaching staff at Corry Area High School.