Skullface Boy

By: Chad Lutzke

Narrated by: Stacy Carolan

"My name is Levi. I’m 16. I’ve got a skull for a face. And here's how shit went down."

Having never been outside the walls of Gramm Jones Foster Care Facility, sixteen-year-old Levi leaves in the middle of the night with an empty backpack and a newfound lust for life. A journey that leads him into the arms of delusional newlyweds, drunkards, polygamists, the dangerous, and the batshit crazy. His destination? Hermosa Beach, California where he's told there is another like him, with the face of a skull.

A coming-of-age road trip filled with surreal Lynch-ian encounters exploring the dark, the disturbing, and the lonely in a 1980s world—an epic venture for one disfigured boy struggling to find his place in the world.

"This is Huck lighting out for the territories, and kind of documenting an era for us on the way. Only--because it’s now not then--he’s got a skull face to deal with. As do we all." (Stephen Graham Jones, author of Mongrels)

©2018 Chad Lutzke (P)2022 Chad Lutzke

Another Lutzke winner

This is a reread for me. I recently discovered that an audio had been released for this title. I have every Lutzke book, e-book and audible so this was a must buy. I have been in love with his writing ever since I read Of Flies and Foster Homes. Lutzke's writing is not embellished. It's simplicity is refreshing and he says so much more in those fewer words than novels twice the size. I have a child with severe anxiety so there is a special place in my heart for people that don't feel as though they belong. My heart hurt for Levi and the purity that Levi maintains while on his journey leaves me at a loss for words. Skullface Boy touches me deeply and I again applaud the purity that Lutzke maintains while his characters face rather unrealistic odds. Like Of Foster Homes and Flies, Skullface Boy is a quick read. You can walk away from it simply enjoying the story or you can walk away with a deeper meaning beneath the surface of the words. Either way - the book/story is beautiful.