Exile in the kingdom

"Philip is popular at high school. A conscientious student and star of the basketball team, he lives in an affluent household and enjoys the latest in electronic marvels. He is well-liked by both his peers and his teachers. He dates one of the most popular girls in school. He is courteous. He is a model young American.". "Philip lives with a mother he never sees, in a house owned by a man that she now despises, and he talks, once every two weeks, on the phone to his biological father. He spends a good deal of his time alone, and in silence, heating an exotic array of packaged dinners in the microwave oven, studying hard, and then winding down with a good game of DOOM or MEGADEATH, before studying hard again. He is detached, self-absorbed, disaffected.". "Philip will soon commit an act of violence, and his trial will polarize the small New England community in which he lives."--BOOK JACKET.