It's Okay to Lie If Your Fingers are Crossed

With his ironic sense of humor, his unusual way of surviving and seeing through the pretensions of the adult world around him, Billy Flynn could very well remind one of an eleven-year-old Holden Caulfield, minus the fancy name, the rich parents and the sympathetic sister. But this boy is a working class kid (third generation Irish-American) who would never see the inside of a prep school.

Billy's goals are relatively simple. He wants to "hear" the Lone Ranger unmasked on radio, get a paper route, acquire a new ball glove, play center-field in Little League and obtain reliable information about sex (not necessarily in that order). His means of attaining these goals are so beyond-the-pale, that sides of the reader are in mortal danger of splitting.

There are poignant moments—especially in the scenes between Billy and his mother, which depict a relationship driven partially by love, but mostly by conflict and mutual distrust.

This book is not recommended to readers under thirteen, because the language gets raw from time to time and the story deals with sexual issues—not in a prurient sense, but rather in a developmental sense as an eleven-year-old might experience it.

This book, properly classified as Literary Fiction, is also entertaining. Its pages are populated by real to life characters and situations, written in a down to earth storytelling style, with minimum embellishment, an ironic bite to it, and occasionally a surreal feel to it.

As one reader succinctly stated, “Each page contains a precious jewel, waiting to be uncovered.”

“It's Okay to Lie If Your Fingers are Crossed” is recommended for adults, young adults, and seniors who might find the period (1950) of special interest.