For precocious twelve-year-old Eugene Smalls, growing up isn't easy. His bad reputation precedes him, public school considers him a lost cause, and his own family seems out to get him. He insists on being called "Huge," and though small, he's tough, just like his heroes, pulp detectives Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. When his grandmother hires him to solve a case of vandalism, he misreads clues, misinterprets motives, and mistakes mundane incidents for diabolical schemes as only an inexperienced adolescent with a restless imagination can.

James W. Fuerst spent his teenage years in New Jersey and now lives in Brooklyn. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and holds an M.F.A from The New School. Huge is his first novel.