Gone and Back Again (2007)

Narrating with hindsight, Caley dissects his descent into depression and paranoia when he was an 11-year-old with an expanding waistline in Jonathon Scott Fuqua's latest novel, Gone and Back Again. Beyond the usual growing pains, he battles neglectful parents, suffers insomnia, dabbles with alcohol, and develops a real fear of Star Trek (''It's...sort of trying to get me,'' he says cryptically). The self-loathing underdog calls himself ''the kind of kid who, even if you wanted to, you didn't care about.'' But that's where he's wrong: You can't help but salute the plucky boy and the rich confession that is this bold, darkly humorous tale. B+