Life hasn't been easy for 12-year-old Eugene "Huge" Smalls, amateur sleuth, devotee of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, and the smallest, meanest, angriest kid in the whole sixth grade.

Sure, Huge's IQ is off the charts, but that doesn't help much when you're growing up in the 1980s in a dreary New Jersey town where your bad reputation precedes you, the public school system's written you off as a lost cause, your only friend isn't allowed to talk to you anymore, and even your own family seems out to get you. And in two short weeks, when the long, baking Jersey summer comes to an end, the hell of junior high awaits.

But it's not all bad. Huge has just been hired to work his first real case, and his quest to solve it will change everything for him. Because before he's through, he'll confront the town bullies, have a close brush with a femme fatale, learn a thing or two about guilt and revenge, and perhaps figure out that he's not as alone as he thinks. Most important, he'll realize that his fantasy life will only take him so far-and that maybe the world isn't always like a Raymond Chandler novel.