Plot
A fifteen year old boy named Garrett is kidnapped and sent to a boot camp in upstate New York called Lake Harmony. Upon his arrival, he learns that his parents have sent him to the facility because he refused to stop dating his former math teacher, Sabrina, along with other things including staying out too late, and smoking marijuana. Garrett does not believe he belongs at Lake Harmony, but he is not allowed to leave until he has admitted his "mistakes" and conforms to the facility's standards of behavior. Staff members are authorized to use "any force necessary" to alter his behavior, including physical and psychological abuse.
After attempting to talk his way out with no success, he realizes escape is his only option. He escapes Lake Harmony with two friends, Pauly and Sarah, after using chemicals to start a fire. They reach the Canadian border to escape from legal recapture, and their pursuers' boat begins to sink. He lets his friends out on the other side of the border, and then rescues his pursuers, who bring him back to Lake Harmony, where he is beaten senseless repeatedly. The director announces that all campers are being demoted, based on the privilege system they use, and to blame Garrett, so he is beaten yet again by the campers. Ultimately, he is "reformed". When his mother comes to pick him up with an investigator, the investigator asks if he was beaten. He breaks down and says that he was, but is still scared of what Lake Harmony would do to him. This forced him to say that he deserved all of it, since the director was standing there. It is possible that these events caused him to suffer from PTSD, as he appears to suffer from a mental breakdown when admitting what has occurred.
Read more about this topic: Boot Camp (novel)
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““The plot thickens,” he said, as I entered.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
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—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
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—James Thurber (1894–1961)