''The November Criminals'' is a novel by Sam Munson published in 2010. The book is the author's first novel; by April 2010, it was found in over 300

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

libraries. It was published by Doubleday in 2010, and reprinted as an Anchor paperback in 2011. It was reviewed in the

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

, the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, and in the magazine ''

Commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

'', published by the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...

. It was the subject of an essay in the ''New York Times'' education section, and was listed by them as an "Editors Choice".NY Times Editor's Choice, June 11, 2010
/ref>

Plot summary

The hero of the book is 18-year-old Addison Schacht, a Jewish high-school senior in Washington D.C. He is in the process of applying to the University of Chicago, where he plans to study classics. The book is his response to the essay question, "What are your best and worst qualities?". He explains he has only "worst qualities", as illustrated by the events of his senior year. They include collecting offensive jokes; dealing drugs to his classmates; and insulting teachers, fellow students, and his girlfriend's mother. But when his classmate Kevin Broadus is killed in a senseless shooting, Addison develops a plan to investigate the death in hopes of finding the killer, and maybe finding some "best qualities" in himself.

Film adaptation

A film based on the novel, titled ''

November Criminals The stab-in-the-back myth (, , ) was an antisemitic conspiracy theory that was widely believed and promulgated in Germany after 1918. It maintained that the Imperial German Army did not lose World War I on the battlefield, but was instead b ...

'', was released in 2017. It stars

Ansel Elgort Ansel Elgort (born March 14, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career with a supporting role in the horror film ''Carrie'' (2013) and gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic dr ...

and

Chloë Grace Moretz Chloë Grace Moretz (; born February 10, 1997) is an American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including four MTV Movie & TV Awards, two People's Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards, and two Young Artist Awards. She began actin ...

in the lead roles.

References

External links

Excerpt from the book published in the ''New York Times''
{{DEFAULTSORT:November Criminals, The 2010 American novels American young adult novels Novels set in Washington, D.C. Doubleday (publisher) books 2010 debut novels