Wildside

A teenager holds the key to a gateway that leads from an overpopulated, polluted Earth to a mysterious parallel planet untainted by humans. By the author of Jumper.

With adept storytelling, Gould, in his second novel (after the well-received Jumper, 1993), weaves the tale of Charles Newell, who discovers a gateway on his late uncle's farmland that leads to a "parallel" earth that is an ecological paradise of extinct species and lands unmarred by human presence. Charlie, who narrates, captures some passenger pigeons that he sells to major zoos and conservancy groups for a small fortune intended as seed capital for his master plan: to drill the alternate earth for its untouched gold. To help in this venture, Charlie reveals his secret to four of his friends, recent high-school graduates all. Working together, the five learn to pilot planes; but in time, their alliance and friendships are tested. The stakes become increasingly higher as well, climaxing in the arrival of government operatives. Ultimately, the financial considerations of the gateway prove no more important to Charlie or his pals than ecological and familial concerns. Adolescent readers will identify with the young heroes and heroines here, while older ones will be charmed by a yarn in which even the evil characters are intelligent and clever. Several loose ends cry to be tied up in a sequel; hopefully, Gould will oblige.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Eighteen-year-old Charlie Newell has inherited a farm from his uncle Max, and has plenty of ideas how to make money for college from it: In the barn, you see, is a tunnel with a gateway to an alternate world, the wildside, teeming with wildlife and bulging with mineral deposits, where humans never evolved. Charlie brings in his closest friends, Marie and Joey (an item) and Clare and Rick (another item), and insists that they all learn to fly: They'll need planes on the wildside to reach the gold deposits they hope to exploit. Charlie, anticipating eventual outside interference, protects the farm with elaborate defenses, and brings in lawyer Luis to handle the legal aspects. Problems still arise: Joey, it seems, is an alcoholic, while Rick is gay. All goes well, though, until they bring back their first shipment of gold and the farm is assaulted by soldiers who don't care who gets hurt so long as they gain control of the gate. So Charlie and friends close the gate while they debate how to proceed, concluding that they must physically move the gate to another location in order for some of the wildsiders to escape and alert the forces of law and order. Much later, it turns out that the gate-crashers are led by a renegade CIA bigwig; not only that, but Charlie's mother and uncle Max were from the world that invented the gate and left home to search for a way to help their own polluted world. A splendid adventure from the author of Jumper (1992), solidly plotted and with above-average characters, of particular appeal to the younger sections of the audience. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Just out of high school, Charlie Newell is the sole guardian of a Texas ranch inherited from his uncle Max and of a staggering secret that could make him and his teenage friends millionaires. The ranch house's back door opens on an unspoiled, parallel Earth teeming with extinct wildlife. With money earned from anonymous sales of passenger pigeons to prominent zoos, Charlie and company begin establishing a makeshift airbase on the "wildside" of the door, marking off distant runways and incidentally prospecting for gold. Despite a screen of legal dodges, the explorers' activities quickly attract the unwelcome attention of government intelligence agents who force a showdown when Charlie tries to keep the wildside door closed against future exploitation. Gould breaks little new ground in the parallel-universe department, spending more time providing a forum for his obvious expertise in aviation. Yet more than a few surprising plot developments make for compelling reading, and fans of Gould's successful Jumper (1992) will probably create heavy demand for this one. Carl Hays