"Cold Air Return is a coming-of-age story that rings true from its first words. It is the summer of 1960 in north central Pennsylvania and twelve-year-old Eugene and his friends are on the cusp of adolescence. Cigarettes are smoked. Innocence collides with responsibility. The bonds of boyhood are tested by the dimly understood forces of race and class and religion. The first twinges of love are shadowed by an adult world where evil is real. O'Keeffe builds his story deftly, each character drawn with knowledge and care. The climax is at once foreshadowed and unexpected, leaving our humanity...