The Rag and Bone Shop
Robert Cormier
 The story is of the brutal murder of a seven year old girl named Alicia Bartlett and the interrogation of a twelve year old boy, named Jason Dorrant, who is her friend and the last known person to see her alive. Trent, an expert interrogator, known to get confessions which seemed impossible to obtain and has never lost a case, is called in for the case. Trent does this "favor" to be in good graces with a senator. Jason Dorrant is a boy who's best described in this quote from the book, "when you're an outsider, and not part of the bunch, you're in a position to see what others don't see."(p.&nbsp;24) He was a lonely fellow with few acquaintances and perhaps no friends at all. Except maybe Alicia, whom he finds to be one of the most fascinating people. She's like a little old lady, he said. After her death Trent brings in Jason as his main suspect. Trent has never failed to get a confession from someone, and a lot is riding on this particular case for Trent to succeed. Jason is brought into a small white-walled room with no ventilation, a single bulb dangling from the ceiling, and Trent begins this interrogation. Jason is an innocent boy who was told that the information he is providing is voluntary and has no idea about being a suspect in any way. Trent takes the information Jason gives him and twists it into a distorted story that makes Jason look absolutely credible for Alicia's death. At one point Trent makes Jason look like a violent maniac simply because he reads and watches science fiction. You are what you believe you are, and by the end of the novel Jason believes he is a blood-thirsty killer and confesses to a crime he did not commit. Trent, with the confession tape in hand, walks towards a woman expecting to be praised for his handiwork, but she looks at Trent accusingly. She explains to him that Alicia's older brother was taken in for the murder and that there were witnesses. Alicia's brother was the killer, not Jason. She accuses him of making Jason confess. Trent was demoted and never worked as an interrogator again. Sadly, he left Jason fighting himself. Jason can't decide if he is what he knows himself to be or if he is what he was told he was. Did he kill her? No. Could he have killed her? No, but could he kill someone worthy of death? Say, a bully? In a final twist of irony, Jason fulfills the role that Trent gave him, grabbing a butcher knife and heading to the nearest YMCA where bully Bobo Kelton is.