Border Crossing (novel)

Border Crossing is a novel written by English author Pat Barker, and first published in 2001.

The novel explores the controversial issue of children who have committed murder, in particular the aftermath after their sentence is served out. A tense psychological thriller, Border Crossing investigates the crimes of particularly violent children, the notion of evil and the possibility of redemption.

When Tom Seymour, a child psychologist, plunges into a river to save a young man from suicide, he unwittingly reopens a chapter from his past he had hoped to forget. For Tom already knows the young man as Danny Miller. When Danny was eleven, Tom presented evidence that helped commit him to prison for the murder of the elderly Lizzie Parks. Danny, full of suppressed memory and now free from prison, turns to Tom to help him recount what really happened, and discover the truth.

Reluctantly, Tom is drawn back into Danny's world, a place where the border between good and evil, innocence and guilt are blurred and confused. But when Danny's demands on Tom become extreme, Tom wonders whether he has crossed the line between the professional and personal relationship, speculating upon, but never realising, the perilous danger he is in until it is almost too late.

The events of Border Crossing are quite possibly inspired by a particularly tragic murder case that took place in Britain in 1993. On 12 February of that year, two-year-old James Patrick Bulger was taken from his mother's side whilst in a shopping centre, and suffered ten skull fractures as a result of an iron bar striking his head. His body was then placed on railway tracks and covered with stones. The two murderers were found to be Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both ten years old.

The case caused considerable controversy both in Britain and worldwide. Just like Danny in Border Crossing, Thompson and Venables were tried and sentenced as adults.

Border Crossing opens with Tom Seymour and his wife Lauren strolling along a deserted river path. They pass the derelict remnants of their decaying neighbourhood, with numerous buildings awaiting demolition or already burnt to the ground, and litter strewn across the path. They stop to observe a young man pause at the edge of a pier, swallow a handful of pills and disappear into the depths of the icy-cold river.

Tom sprints to the boy's aid and, after a moment's hesitation, dives in after him. Struggling with the body, Tom manages to drag the boy back towards the bank of the river through the thick, repugnant mud. The boy, his face covered in a mud mask, is not breathing, so they perform CPR. After Tom detects a pulse, Lauren rushes back to the house to call an ambulance, which arrives promptly. The paramedics establish that the drowned boy is now stable, and they load him into the ambulance to be taken to hospital.

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