LikeLionel Shriver’scharged and incisive later novels,We Need to Talk About Kevinis a piercing, unforgettable, and penetrating exploration of violence, family ties, and responsibility, a book that theBoston Globedescribes as“sometimes searing... [and] impossible to put down.”"...this is a vocal challenge to every accepted parenting manual you’ve ever read."  -Daily MailTwo years ago Eva Khatchadourian’s son, Kevin, murdered seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker and a popular teacher. Now, in a series of letters to her absent husband, Eva recounts the story of how Kevin came to be Kevin. Fearing that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son has become, she confesses to a deep, long-standing ambivalence about both motherhood in general and Kevin in particular.How much is her fault? When did it all start to go wrong? Oar was it, in fact, ever ‘right’ at all?We Need To Talk About Kevinoffers no explanations for why so many white, well-to-do adolescents — whether in Pearl, Paducah, Springfield, or Littleton — have gone nihilistically off the rails while growing up in the most prosperous country in history. Instead,Lionel Shrivertells a compelling, absorbing, and resonant story with an explosive, haunting ending.