Synopsis
Nobody would believe Dennis Leeper was a hero. He was the kind of kid you hid from when he pedaled his rickety bike down the road. But Jamie couldn’t say no when his father asked him to include Dennis in the raft project. And someone needed to hold the line when Jamie and his cousin Jerry finally got the raft in the river. But they should have known that Dennis couldn’t be trusted to hold onto it.
Without paddles and out of people’s sight, the three boys are swept downstream—toward the dams, the steep falls, and three separate destinies. One swims to shore. One is rescued. And one never returns alive.
Overcome by guilt and the fear that Dennis’s father will take revenge for his son’s death, Jamie tells everyone how he survived: Dennis was a hero. The question is: Will anyone believe it?
From the Hardcover edition.
Publishers Weekly
It's the summer of 1957, and 14-year-old Jamie West is busy with farm chores at home, along the banks of Idaho's Payette River. Eager to finish the raft he's been building, he enlists the help of his older cousin Jerry. The boys try to keep their project a secret from Dennis Leeper, hangdog son of Arlie, the Wests' menacing, impoverished neighbor, but when the raft is finally launched, there are three of them aboard. The swift-flowing (and off-limits) central current of the river proves irresistible to daredevil Jerry, and events take a tragic turn. The story's strong vein of nostalgia and coming-of-age theme bring to mind Stephen King's Stand by Me, and although the leisurely pace at times borders on sluggish, Woods's descriptions can be eloquent: "For a long time, the thunder echoed out of the canyon above the sawmill, up where the river ran wild, a perfect partner with the storm." The first-time author also shows a sharp eye for character, from his thumbnail sketches to the broader narrative arc that traces Jamie's growth. Even if the momentum suffers as Jamie reckons with the consequences of the rafting disaster, his convincing development from feckless adolescence to responsible manhood testifies to this author's promise. Ages 12-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.