Who I’m Not by Ted Staunton (review)

After a youth of foster homes, assumed identities, and scams, our narrator isn’t sure what his real name actually is. He knows who he plans to be, however: Danny Dellomondo, an Ontario boy who disappeared a few years ago, and who would now be fifteen. As the returning lost relative, he’s tearfully embraced by Shannon, “his” older half-sister, who moves him into her house and tries to integrate him into the life she thinks he should have. Danny’s mother, however, is apparently still struggling with substance abuse and keeps her distance, and Danny’s half-brother, Tyson, is dopesick and completely thrown by Danny’s return. Pseudo-Danny’s plan is to put some money together and get out of there and back to the U.S. as soon as he can, but it’s not that simple: there’s Gillian, a girl he’s starting to really like, and the detective from Danny’s case is unhealthily interested in Danny’s ostensible return. Staunton (author of Power Chord, BCCB 2/11) brings an engaging solidity to the currently popular impostor plot, and fake Danny is an intriguing character—a genuinely talented, compulsive grifter who’s great at understanding everybody’s behavior but his own, and who’s more of a lost soul than he realizes. His relationship with Gillian is realistically low key even as it’s pivotal, and she’s gently and specifically characterized as a bit of a drifting soul herself. The underlying family drama is sadly plausible, and the Dellomondos are a credible hardscrabble clan with a mixture of stability and defeat. Fans of McClintock’s amiably gritty Dooley Takes a Fall (BCCB 9/08) will appreciate this speedy, satisfying suspense tale.