Wow, this was really hard to put down. I felt for Simon because I recognized his worry-prone brain, and for Jake, the easily misunderstood introvert. There is a lot to discuss here about parenting, gender roles, and media. 
 "Inexcusably, I think about the movies. Those parents, caught up in some awful tragedy paralleling our own, act the heroes, persevere against all odds, track down the clues and find the answers, gun in hand, nursing a non fatal wound to the shoulder. For me, it is nothing of the sort. Instead the tsunami of reality pushes me, all of us, along, forcing us down this path of inactivity, bureaucracy, and flashbulbs. It is a wave of staggering weight that holds us captive to the nothingness." 
 "All it takes is six minutes out of your sight. I believe that this awareness doomed the days of childhood freedom, replacing the dinner bell with the car pool." 
 "I manned no arsenal of destruction. Instead, as all parents inevitably do, I stood by powerless to stop the pain that must be a part of my children's lives."