Even after a generation, the small Vancouver Island town of Tass is feeling the effects of the Big One, a sinkhole that swallowed an entire church full of people. No bodies were ever recovered. Sixteen-year-old Hudson has always delighted in exploring the area\u2019s sprawling cave systems, but he\u2019s recently become increasingly worried about the looming prospect of a repeat catastrophe. A timber company\u2019s careless logging and road building are causing unpredictable changes in the patterns of subterranean water flow, the community center\u2019s foundations are cracking, and the local mayor seems to be in the pocket of the company\u2019s smooth-talking executive. Hudson\u2019s worries turn out to be well founded as events and escalating tensions in town lead to a violent and terrifying climax. Though Hudson serves mainly as a mouthpiece and a model for safe caving practices, Withers does set him up for several heroic rescues. His developing relationships with an estranged former bestie turned bully and two rival girls from school add some personal heft. The author\u2019s extensive background research is evident in the narrative, which is loaded with infodumps on cave formations and ecology, specific techniques involved in cave exploration, and the causes and dangers of sinkholes. Names and other oblique hints suggest that the cast may not be entirely white. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even after a generation, the small Vancouver Island town of Tass is feeling the effects of the Big One, a sinkhole that swallowed an entire church full of people. No bodies were ever recovered. Sixteen-year-old Hudson has always delighted in exploring the area\u2019s sprawling cave systems, but he\u2019s recently become increasingly worried about the looming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}