With his novels The Chocolate War and I Am the Cheese, author Robert Cormier earned a reputation for writing novels that realistically and unflinchingly explored the tragic side of human nature. Each of his subsequent novels continued to illustrate the dark consequences of what happens when good people do not oppose the evil forces they encounter. Although his novels have been challenged in school libraries across the country, teens and adults applauded Cormier for taking on tough subjects that depicted realistic characters.