Book Review: Scott Free

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

Scott Free     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
John Gilstrap
Class/Genre:   Mystery
2003

Gilstrap is an author who really should write faster, in my opinion! He draws on prior experience as a fire fighter, EMT, and explosives expert, and his books always contain an element of wilderness survival, emergency management, and miscellaneous "derring-do."

In this volume, we meet Scott O'Toole - an appealingly average middle American teenager. Scott's parents have divorced, and he lives with his father. Together the two enjoy many outdoor activities, and have completed a winter outdoor survival course. This proves to be one of the most valuable experiences of Scott's young life.

As the book opens, he is spending a week with his mother at a Utah ski resort. Impatient with her lack of interest in joining him on the slopes, Scott slips free from her, and joins a casual acquaintance on a trip in a small single engine plane to take in a heavy metal concert. The plane is blown off course by a serious storm and crashes in the heavily wooded mountains. Scott is the sole survivor.

Drawing on what he learned in the survival course, he makes his way to an isolated cabin. The reader is at first relieved that Scott is safe, but much more is to come.

Witness protection program issues, Secret Service protection of high governmental officials, the stresses of small town law enforcement facing horrible weather, visiting dignitaries, missing persons, the conflict between divorced parents of a much loved missing son, the exploitive attitudes of modern day American media and nail biting suspense fill the remainder of the book.

Quite a trip, and a very nice ride at that!

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM