Downside Seven

Eight-year-old Skipper Frank can't describe what he saw while he played on a Carolina lake shore the day the prominent Newman Rankey drowned. Skipper is autistic, and his communication skills are far too limited. His minister, Reverend Carolyn (Cal) Crandall, can't imagine why Skipper drew a picture of Rankey's boat in Sunday School or why he keeps whimpering the odd phrase, "Downside seven." The police have dismissed Rankey's death as a boating accident, but when strange things start...
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Eight-year-old Skipper Frank can't describe what he saw while he played on a Carolina lake shore the day the prominent Newman Rankey drowned. Skipper is autistic, and his communication skills are far too limited. His minister, Reverend Carolyn (Cal) Crandall, can't imagine why Skipper drew a picture of Rankey's boat in Sunday School or why he keeps whimpering the odd phrase, "Downside seven." The police have dismissed Rankey's death as a boating accident, but when strange things start happening to Skipper, Cal wonders what the child witnessed. Could he hold a dangerous seceret locked inside his brain? And what--or who--is "Downside Seven"?The story unfolds through several distinct voices. There's the autistic boy. He misses the obvious but sees what others miss. The clergywoman. She's a curiosity in her rural Bible-belt town. A down-and-out insurance investigator. He's the only person who takes Cal's concern seriously, but he seems hell-bent on cheating Rankey's son out of his rightful inheritance.