A River Rapid

The most excitement the small town of Contego gets is its legendary spring trout fishing. But a group of friends' fishing excursion will turn into a day of horror when they are confronted by gunfire from a foreign terror cell operating on American soil.

The trio of Matt Chupek, Kenny Bender, Beth Hammel, along with Matt's grandfather, Pappy, find themselves dodging bullets when they should be hooking trout. One of the bullets kills Pappy, and the surviving children are forced to run for their lives. Finding shelter in the woods, the three friends use Kenny's radio to tune into the news and discover what has taken place. They find that their placid, remote town has been taken over by armed terrorists. The band of marauders is led by Hassim Omar, an American citizen whose reign of terror is exacerbated by his untreated obsessive compulsive disorder. Until this surprising attack, Omar's group had remained dormant and under the radar for years.

With their town under siege, Matt will discover his natural leadership skills as Beth and Kenny turn to him for advice, strategy, and consolation. In a jaw-dropping realization, the trio will learn that Omar plans to detonate and blow up their entire hometown. He schemes to film the chaotic destruction, airing it live on international television. As the three face off against their traumatic circumstances, they will come face to face with terrorist ringleader Omar. By now, Omar's unchecked OCD has run amok, leading him to a tenuous connection with reality. As the clock ticks on the town's immanent annihilation, US authorities must learn how to use Omar's aberrant psychology against him.

A chilling and perfectly balanced mix of evil and innocence, A River Rapid brings a profound level of psychological depth to the terrorist thriller genre. Unlike other novels working in the same vein, this one attempts to imagine a terrorist act if it unfolded in rural America far away from the crowded, urban targets that seem to be the forte of evil-doers across the world. Matt, Kenny, and Beth show some admirable small-town grit as they overcome the murder of Pappy and flee through the woods while being pursued by armed terrorists.

Cinematic in its action and down-home American in its dialogue and ingenuity, A River Rapid is a reminder of the courage and fortitude that our country's hinterland still produces in droves. Life for these middle school students in upstate New York will never be the same again. A white-knuckle tale of courage in the face of lost innocence, this stunning thriller by debut author Scott Haluska brings the events of international terrorism to bear on a small town, while demonstrating the uncanny and untapped leadership abilities of three ordinary kids trying to survive in a world gone topsy-turvy.