Cooper gets his long-awaited summer vacation on beautiful Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. There’ll be sleep outs on The Getaway, the MacKinnon’s restored cabin cruiser, snorkeling, scuba, swimming, lots of eating and pranking with his three friends, Gordy, Hiro, and Lunk—just the kind of entertainment they need before entering ninth grade. A couple of months previously, imprisonment in a flooded basement and a near drowning have wounded Cooper’s psyche, Gordy’s too. And they don’t even know it. Cooper’s just not ready for another run in with deadly criminals. When Hiro, the cop wannabe with her woman’s intuition, sniffs out foul play on a girl-gone-missing, Cooper and the other guys remained in denial. But burying your fear doesn’t mean that it’s dead. Lethal danger is bearing down on Cooper and his friends. Will they realize it in time?
Below the surface explores post-traumatic stress and is an excellent sequel to the terrors Cooper experienced in Back Before Dark. The author, Tim Shoemaker, did an excellent job juggling five points of view thus giving readers insight into each of the four friends, their personal struggles and relationships to one another. He also progressively raises the tension and mystery while pushing the plot forward to the dramatic conclusion. At the end of the book, the author also includes an excellent discussion of fear and how to handle it, as well as stimulating discussion questions.
Age Range: 8 and up
Genre: Action Adventure/Mystery
Series: A Code of Silence Novel (Book 3 of 3)
Zondervan 2014
Available: Amazon and Christianbook.com. Also ask for this title at your local library and Christian book store.
