Terror at Wolf Lake
Max Elliot Anderson
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Tweener Press
ISBN: 097292566X

Eddy Thompson cheats on anything, anytime, anywhere.

So begins the Max Elliot Anderson's second adventure book. It is winter in Indiana & the Christmas Holidays are finally coming. There's just one thing Eddy has to overcome, the end of term exam in history. It doesn't matter that they've been studying one of his heroes, John Dillenger, he's not at all sure he's going to do well. However, Eddy has found the perfect way to ace the test.

Eddy is a charismatic lad, & while he is liked, he isn't trusted. He doesn't care. “Everything I know about beating the system I learned from my dad.” (Page 6) He is constantly working the odds, cutting corners, always on the look out for the freebie. He is fast becoming a master cheater, which neither of his school friends, Chet & Rusty, participate in or like.

At last school is out & Eddy's father invites Chet & Rusty & their fathers to drive up to a cabin he knows on a lake in Michigan for some ice fishing. There is a ton of snow falling & this trip is going to be an adventure.

Adventure is it, good boyish fun with toboggans & ice & great meals. & then the world comes to their isolated cabin making the three boys face some terrifying choices. What should they do? Eddy knows exactly, & in taking the lead, he draws his pals into a dangerous web of thievery & danger, which follows them all the way home.

How does Eddy see the errors of his ways? What does he do to change his life? Couched in simple, brief & effective Christian morals, as told by children to children, Terror at Wolf Lake, becomes a cautionary tale in more ways than one!

A fine adventure story with something to teach about ethical living. In the beginning I was like Rusty & Chet, fascinated by Eddy's reasoning about taking advantage & not counting the cost, to anyone.

The final chapters when Eddy sets out in search of his redemption are just as exciting at the rest of the adventure.

Well worth the read!

More from Max Elliot Anderson:
Newspaper Caper
(02/01/04)

Rebecca