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This book is an exciting adventure involving a young brother and sister, Eric and Heather. Since their father has to be out of town, their dad sends them to their great uncle Chad’s home to spend their Easter vacation. Their adventure starts out when the bus they are traveling on has a flat tire and while waiting for the repairs to be done the Heather sees “something” in the hillside shadows that startles her. Both children have the sense that something is watching them and begin to feel eerie and spooked. Their feelings of unease continue as they arrive in Freisburg. The town has the feel of an old abandoned ghost town, there are no people around, and everyone seems to be hiding behind their closed doors and are unfriendly. Uncle Chad picks the children up at the old train station, which serves as the post office and museum and takes them home. However, Uncle Chad seems to be very preoccupied and leaves the kids to their own entertainment. As they start exploring the town, they meet a young girl named Ana who has a unique mood of transportation – her father has invented a powered car that runs on the rail tracks. The kids are fascinated with the contraption and Ana quickly invites them to her house. There they meet Ana’s brother, Juan and her parents. This is Eric and Heather’s first experience meeting people of another culture and at first Eric is a little withdrawn. However, Eric learns that the family loves God just as much as he does and he warms up to them quickly. Eric and Heather also discover that Ana has had a similar experience of feeling that there is “something” out there in the shadows watching her and as even seen “it”. She is not able to describe it but said it didn’t look human but that she knew it wouldn’t hurt her. The kids decide to try and find out what is out there. They return to the Museum and talk with the post mistress. They discover that years before Freisburg was a prosperous mining town but that 55 years ago there had been a robbery that had destroyed the town. All the gold that had been mined was taken and the clerks were killed. One of the bank robbers was found dead and there was no trace of the other. One of the mining company clerks, who had been off the day of the robbery, was suspected of being involved. The mining company went bankrupt and since most of the people or businesses were connected with the mining company, the community had no money to survive. The people of the community continue to treat Eric and Heather as outsiders and even Uncle Chad starts to act strangely around them. Eric and Heather learn to depend on each other and to respect each other more as they work together to discover the secret of the town. The kids continue to explore the area with their friends but have no luck finding out who is out there in the desert. One day upon returning, they find the community in an uproar and upon closer inspection find that a man has been badly injured. The people are angry and talking amongst themselves about the problem, but when Eric and Heather come near and ask what is going on, no one wants to tell them. Uncle Chad volunteers to take the man to the nearest hospital and Eric and Heather ride along with him. Eric tells Uncle Chad that he knows something is going on and he wants to know the truth or they will leave and go to the police. Uncle Chad agrees to tell them the story. As they head back to Freisburg, Eric and Heather determine not to let things continue as they are and set out on the biggest part of their adventure. This is a fun story for children and teens. The story unfolds in an exciting manner but the fact that the children are around the age of 11 and 12 and doing so many things unsupervised and all the adventures and choices they make is somewhat unbelievable. The author weaves the importance of trusting God into learning about different cultures and accepting people for who they are regardless of their race or circumstances. The story holds your interest and has surprise twists toward the end that makes the story even more exciting. After reading this, you will look forward to more adventures involving Eric and Heather.
Book Review by Naomi Glenn
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