SOLVED. boy interrupts suicide attempt by detaching a hose from car exhaust pipe, witnesses the man's suicide after all; Adult fiction, murder, mystery, Kid-on-the-run [s]

[Lisa]

A young boy teaching his even younger brother how to smoke in the woods behind their trailer park sees a car pull in nearby.
A man exits the car, connects a hose to the exhaust pipe and threads it through the car window, enters the car and starts the engine.

The older boy debates intervening; he decides to disconnect the hose at the exhaust pipe. Stealthily, he disconnects the hose, returns to his hiding place, and watches with his brother, who wants to leave immediately. His older brother convinces him to stay.

After a time, the man exits the car with a bottle of alcohol, discovers the disconnected hose, looks around in confusion, reconnects the hose, and re-enters the car to continue drinking. The boy finds this hysterical (no, he doesn't, I did. The boy was being noble) again disconnects the hose, and skitters away to watch.

Repeat. Repeat.... The man catches the boy, hauls him into the car to die with him, hits him - forces the boy to sit and breath carbon monoxide with him, and tells him a story about a murder, then finally passes out. It gets better from here...

I read the book some time around 1998, or any time thereafter.

[Juels]

The Client by John Grisham?

[Lisa]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

eta This is the book, thank you!

I'd saved Nathan's Run by John Gilstrap for ages thinking it was this one. Nathan's Run is also an excellent book, but not funny. Perhaps The Client isn't that funny either, but I sure thought at least parts of it were the first time I read it.

[Lisa]

Hi Juels, how did you find it so quickly? I'd like to learn. I'm 61 and tried google, but got discouraged by the trash answers. Is there a particular search engine you recommend?

[Juels]

I use Google books. I think I searched for 'hose in the exhaust pipe' or something similar.

[Juels]

You're welcome!