The Slip

The Slip by Lucas Schaefer is a vivid and emotionally charged debut set in Austin, Texas during the summer of 1998. At the heart of the novel is sixteen-year-old Nathaniel Rothstein, a teen who’s never quite felt at ease in his own skin. When he steps into Terry Tucker’s Boxing Gym and begins training under a charismatic ex-fighter, something shifts. Nathaniel grows more confident, almost unrecognizable from the boy he was. Then, one night, he disappears without a trace.

Years later, his uncle Bob, who was supposed to be watching over him that summer, receives a tip that reopens the mystery. His search leads through a web of former boxers, lost identities, and long-held secrets, bringing together people with their own complex histories and hopes.

Weaving together coming-of-age journeys, questions of race and identity, and a nation in flux, The Slip delivers a poignant and gripping exploration of what it means to find yourself—and what’s left behind when someone vanishes before they can.