I wanted to like this more than I did - the scene in the interrogation room was just too unbelievable when the two officers would converse as though Gabe wasn't there. It was interesting to be in Gabe's head, but it would have helped the story to step outside of him occasionally, and make the other characters seem more real. ( )

Trying to hard to deal with too many issues, this 2011 Edgar Award winner centers on high schooler Gabriel who is interrogated at his hometown Montana police station. As a witness to a double murder that is revealed only at the end, Gabriel relates the events that led up to the event. Family secrets, a long ago cult, hate crimes against the Native American star runner, drug dealing and the sudden erratic behavior of the homeless men who hang around the center where his mom works as a social worker are mashed in with Gabriel's own issues of his father's abandonment and then death, plus Gabriel's pseudo-stalking of a potential girlfriend. Disjointed dialogue doesn't really wrap everything up at the end, instead blaming a side character (the girlfriend's brother) who never has an engaging role in the plot. Disappointing. ( )

High school teen Gabriel James was a witness to two murders and this book is set in the police station where Gabriel is being interrogated by two police detectives. The story is told mostly in flashbacks as Gabriel gives a detailed account of events leading up to the killings. Hate crimes, animal cruelty, a strange deserted compound and drugs are all part of Gabe's narrative. His final statement settles the murder case but leads to more questions for Gabe himself about whether he might have some culpability in the tragedy.

This book won the Edgar Award for best Young Adult mystery novel in 2011. In my opinion the choices must have been very slim that year. I did not like much about this book and found it very hard to follow. The scenarios were very extreme to the point of nearly being unbelievable. Apparently some of the story is based on true events that happened in Montana years ago but it just did not hold my interest at all.
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The story is told in the formate of a police interrogation of Gabriel James. It keeps you wondering until the end about who was killed so it is there is full of suspense. ( )

Gabriel James is attending his second funeral within a week. The deceased’s father, Sun Ray, is there, hands cuffed in front of him, Deputy Sheriff Childress beside him. The deceased’s sister, Raelene, stands further back with Gabe’s mother. The next day takes Gabe to the County Annex to answer questions from Childress and Billings, Montana Police Officer Kosich about the harassment of American Indian Danny Two Bull, a talented track team member, new to the high school. Gabe answers questions about the attempted suicide of a homeless man, Durmie, and drugs being dealt outside the Community Center Durmie frequents. He answers questions about the abduction of neighborhood dogs and about his stalking of Raelene. During the interrogation he also learns that twenty years ago his parents and Kosich were members of a commune run by Sun Ray which espoused free love and drugs. Gabe himself wonders how his actions might have led to or prevented these events.
The Interrogation of Gabriel James primarily takes place in the County Annex questioning room as Gabe answers questions posed to him. Price uses flashbacks to pry out the story. It is ineffective as the transitions to and from the flashbacks are confusing. Gabe’s actions seem unusual for a high schooler, although his confusion regarding who to confide in is realistic. The characters are not endearing. The story is muddled and some of the plotlines seem implausible. The combination of the various story threads into a unified ending is not satisfying. Described as a mystery, this book is not suspenseful. ( )