Lost Boys

by Orson Scott Card

The novel, set in 1983, revolves around Step Fletcher, a game programmer, who invented a fictional Atari computer game called Hacker Snack, and his family. Step, a devout Mormon, moves his pregnant wife DeAnne and their three children, including seven-year-old Stevie, from Indiana to Steuben, North Carolina so he can start a new job as a technical writer. In addition to struggles at his new job with unpleasant and immoral bosses and coworkers, the Fletchers' new house is periodically invaded by hordes of different types of insects. Bappy, the elderly father of the owner of the rented house, is always ready to lend a hand with things. Step quits his job right before DeAnne gives birth to a baby with special needs.

After the move, Step's son Stevie becomes withdrawn, playing only with his imaginary friends in the garden and on his computer. They take him to a psychiatrist, who speculates that the family's religion could be causing Stevie's problems, offending Step. Step and DeAnne notice that the names of Stevie's imaginary friends are the same as the names of young boys who are disappearing. Stevie knows the boys' nicknames, which are not common knowledge. They notify the police, and a detective questions Stevie, concluding that a serial killer must exist for them to be all connected through Stevie. Step notices that the video game that Stevie uses to play with his imaginary friends has graphics that are beyond anything that could actually run on the computer and discovers that the game has no cartridge. On the 22nd of December, Bappy arrives and fits the Christmas lights for them and lingers for quite some time while DeAnn and Step take their infant to the doctor. On Christmas Eve, Stevie brings his friends into the house to introduce them to his parents and to celebrate Christmas. Stevie reveals that now that he is like them, he can make them visible to others. He explained that after confronting Bappy's connection to the missing boys, Bappy murdered him and buried his body in the underspace below the house, which also contained the graves of the other boys. Step and DeAnne bid Stevie farewell. Bappy is arrested and charged with the murder of the boys. Years later, Robbie and Betsy regard their elder brother like a legend and the family waits to unite with their lost child once again in the afterlife.