A futuristic story that begins in the middle of the cold war.  A small town in the US is asked to participate in a government/military experiment and the entire town agrees.  The mayor of the town, Dean Crane, is the only resident to know all the details and be in constant contact with the people in the black sedans.  Bethany Ann Crane is the major’s daughter and youngest member of the experiment. The story is told in part from her perspective and certainly centers around her.  

Bethany Ann Crane is 8 years old when the experiment starts.  Being 8 she is not really aware of what is going on and what exactly the experiment is all about but comes to realize that part of the experiment is that no one ages, they stay the same as long as the experiment lasts.  But what no one seems to recognize is that although Bethany Ann looks like an 8 year old for the entire story her brain is continuing to develop. She becomes a very accomplished pianist, an avid reader and falls in love.  Despite being so capable no one sees her as anything but 8 years old.

I found this book to be absolutely fascinating, a type of study in human behavior.  The ending is surreal and will leave you pondering the entire story for a long time.  Loomis has written a story that is interesting, sad, scary and even diabolical, read it!