Khadim has no idea why he's been called into the office of Dr. Danielson, the Vice Principal at Sheffield High. At first, Danielson is cagey, using a minor violation to keep the boy at school for detention. But as tension mounts, Danielson alternately plays good cop and bad, and winds up catching Khadim in a series of lies about crimes he may (or may not) have committed. In The North Pool, this riveting psychological thriller, a high-school vice principal and a Middle Eastern–born transfer student engage in a politically and emotionally charged game of cat and mouse, with dangerous consequences.

"Joseph has a gift for penetrating to the depths of human nature. As he explores the question of guilt—in all its forms, for all its reasons—there's barely a wasted word." -Boston Globe.