River Danger

Lucas held the chisel under Eric's nose and said, "We've got some friends coming here in a little while. If you make a single sound, I'm going to hurt you real bad. Understand?"

When Eric Douglas heads down the Buffalo River in his canoe, he thinks he's left the outside world behind. For the next week he'll be canoeing and camping — enjoying the fresh smell of the surrounding woods, landing an occasional bass for supper, listening to the reassuring crackle of the evening campfire. And his biggest problem will be keeping his overactive little brother, Robbie, out of trouble.

But when Eric stumbles upon a car-theft ring operating out of an isolated old barn, his wilderness trek turns deadly — and his life depends on Robbie finding help, fast.

The pace is rapid, the tension high, and the adventure thrilling in this latest offering from master storyteller Thomas Dygard.

Although he reluctantly agrees to accompany his little brother on a canoe trip, eighteen-year-old Eric finally gains new respect for this younger sibling whose ingenuity rescues him.

In His Own Words...

"I can't remember when I first started writing fiction. it was shortly after I began reading fiction, I'm sure.

"I've been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I read a lot of the same kinds of books I'm writing-the John R. Tunis sports stories, for example. I also read a lot of history when I was young-and I still do now. It's always fascinated me.

"When I was a high school senior, I was offered two jobs, both of the apprentice sort. One was in a commercial artist's studio, on a recommendation from my art teacher. The other was in the sports department of the local newspaper, following work on the school paper. I took the sportswriting job.

"For four years I worked for the Arkansas Gazette while attending the University of Arkansas, first at Little Rock and then at Fayetteville, covering football, baseball, basketball, boxing, golf, tennis-everything that made up the sports page. After graduation, I joined the Associated Press as a newsman at Little Rock and later worked in AP bureaus in Detroit, Birmingham, and New Orleans. Eventually, I was Chief of Bureau in Little Rock, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Tokyo, Japan. I retired from the Associated Press in 1993 and now live in Evansville, Indiana.

"For me, writing fiction is fun, relaxing, and satisfying-an enjoyable change of pace, a recharging of the batteries.

"My first young adult novel, Running Scared, got started one night in a motel room in Champaign, Illinois, when I had nothing else to do. Before long, the story had me in its grip. The creation of the thing was a fascinating experience. I liked the characters. I liked leading them through their problems to their triumphs. I kept going until one day it was finished.

"I did not set out to write for young people. Looking back, I think it was something of a blessing that 1 did not. As I wrote Running Scared, I imagined the reader as an adult, but after it was finished, it seemed more appropriate for young readers. The result, I think, was that the story did not talk down to teenagers. In every book I've written since, I've tried to keep the same approach."