Will is pretty much your average 16-year-old. He does well enough in school, plays in a rock band, chases girls with little success, and has a typical collection of oddball friends...with one significant exception. For as long as he can remember, he has been systematically beaten up--physically, mentally, and emotionally--by his older brother. Taut, gripping and at times mordantly funny, Vandal amply fulfills the promise of Michael Simmons's justly praised first novel, Pool Boy.