The Secret History is the story of Richard Papen, one of six close friends studying the Classics at a fictional Vermont university. The novel begins with an older Richard discussing a murder that took place within the group and the destruction it wrought on he and his friends. The novel then proceeds to explore the motivations behind the murder and the effects it had on his life and the lives of its friends after their college years.
Bless the Beasts and the Children is the story of six emotionally damaged boys sent by their parents to a rough and tumble cowboy-styled camp in Arizona. They grow close due to their alienation from the other campers, but their attempts to put an end to the barbaric local tradition of slaughtering tame bison in canned hunts, despite being an affirming coming of age experience, ends in tragedy. One of the boys dies in an attempt to spook the complacent bison into running and the others are quickly discovered.
Childhood's End is a science fiction novel told in an omniscient third-person narrative. It records the arrival of transcendent aliens called Overlords who work over the course of decades to prepare humanity for entry into the Overmind, a cosmic intelligence free of physical constraints. Humans, experiencing a golden age of peace and prosperity but concerned that the Overlords have pressed them into stagnation and afraid of sacrificing individuality, experience intense anxiety at this prospect before finally succumbing.