Big brothers are often thrust into the ­culturally significant role of protector and mentor. But what if your troubled elder sibling is difficult to admire? Say he’s suspected of blowing up the local library one night, taking his own life and that of a ­librarian in the process. These are the ­circumstances faced by Jimmy Morrison, the adolescent protagonist of Steven Hayward’s second novel.

Hayward, a Toronto native now based in Colorado, initially captures the reader’s attention with capable, engaging prose and a strong narrative voice. But the novel is hampered by overdetermined characterization and themes, and the unconvincing imposition of supernatural elements on a primarily realistic narrative.

Seventeen-year-old James Fortitude Morrison lives with his father, an engineer nicknamed Fort, who grew up in small-town Northern Ontario and has settled in ­Cleveland Heights, Ohio, with wife Filo­mena, an Italian-American ex-nun. Following the explosion, Jimmy and his family attend grief counselling. While Fort secretly visits the ruins of the library to determine the cause of the blast, Jimmy gets a crash course in being a better big brother himself, taking care of his younger brother Petey in the wake of their mother’s near-catatonic emotional collapse.

Hayward conjures youthful suburban angst effectively through the convincing and likeable character of Jimmy, who compares his home life to movies and TV shows, in particular the schlocky sitcom Family Ties (which also helps locate the story in the cultural context of the mid-1980s). Hayward also neatly choreographs how the family members deal with the tragedy in their unique – and spectacularly bad – ways.

But too much emphasis is paid to details that ­offer little thematic resonance or emotional payoff, such as the siblings’ various personality quirks and numerous references to that other, better-known Jim Morrison. The ­imposition of a supernatural element at the end only serves to undermine the ­reader’s faith in the story.