He is a Virginia native, a Hopewell High Blue Devil, and an Old Dominion University Monarch.Giles applied the Page 69 Test to his new young adult mystery/thriller Fake ID and reported the following:
When I was told about the Page 69 Test and asked to apply it to Fake ID, I was a little intimidated. I had no clue what I’d find on that page. Would it be dialogue heavy, a description of the park Nick (the hero) retreats to when he wants to be alone, or the opening page of a chapter where the top third is a number and white space?Learn more about the book and author at Lamar Giles's website, blog, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
Would I, somehow, fail the test?
Hesitant, I turned to page 69 and found a pleasant surprise. It’s the last scene between Nick and his one friend Eli. No spoiler alert necessary here. Fake ID is a murder mystery, and you only need to read the jacket to know that Eli doesn’t make it. Unlike many murder mysteries, Eli doesn’t die on the first page or in the first chapter. I kept him alive up to and beyond page 69 on purpose because the relationship he develops with Nick illustrates a key theme in my book. Loyalty.
How does you earn another’s loyalty? What do you do with it once you have it? How do you lose it? In this interaction Eli does something that shows a level of trust in Nick that the boy’s never experienced in his tumultuous life. It brings out an unknown drive in him, a loyalty for Eli that pushes the rest of the story when Eli’s snatched away.
Additionally, this scene shows what life could be like for Nick in a perfect world. A sweet fantasy and a horrid lie. The world is not perfect, never has been. But this scene on Page 69 of Fake ID is nice break from the mayhem.
My Book, The Movie: Fake ID by Lamar Giles.
--Marshal Zeringue
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