Free Fall

Four diverse teenage boys take a day trip to a cave in Florida and find themselves in a perilous situation that tests and tempers their friendship and calls on every ounce of strength, courage, and shrewdness they can muster.

Grade 7-10-If there is value in plausibility in fiction, this cave adventure story is destitute. Granted, dysfunctional teenagers (here, three macho types and a wimp) might get together and stupidly bumble into an unknown cave without previous experience and without telling anyone their destination, despite being ill-prepared and ill-equipped, and then continue to make poor decisions that create difficulties and test their ability to survive. And some caving details seem right: the teens have only vague instructions as to the location of the cave and have some trouble finding it; and it's true that when first perceived, one seldom recognizes the sound of moving water. Unfortunately, many details are implausible-four regular flashlights continue to operate for 24 hours; one of the boys survives a 70-foot fall onto rock with only a shattered leg. And must negative stereotypes about snakes and bats (evoking images of demons and death) be reinforced? Time, distance, terminology, and descriptions of cave configuration (heights, distances, sizes of openings, etc.) are confusing and inconsistent. It's difficult to tell whether this is intentional (representing the boys' misperceptions) or whether Sweeney just didn't get it right. This talented writer continues to create unique, troubled characters in an emotionally charged setting, but unfortunately neither characters nor setting fully realize their potential. The great YA caving novel remains to be written.
Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Four high school boys are lost for 24 hours in an underground cave in this suspenseful adventure story. Seventeen-year-old Neil and his friend Randy grudgingly allow Neil's younger brother, David, and his friend Terry to join them on a road trip into Florida's Ocala National Forest for an afternoon of spelunking. None of the boys has told his parents, much less asked for permission, and with only vague directions, few exploring skills and fewer supplies, it's only a matter of time before crisis strikes. How the boys ration food, plan escape routes, cope with injuries, snakes and other unfriendly wildlife all make for gripping reading, and the story could stand on its own as a tale of survival. But Sweeney (Shadow) goes beyond the action genre, bringing the characters' outside lives into the cave to add further depth to the proceedings. The looming possibility that they may perish enables the boys to examine and come to terms with some of their fears and hopes and, in the case of Neil and David, to iron out a painful, two-year-long misunderstanding. The four personalities are distinct and expertly drawn, the roles they take on in the cave natural extensions of their histories. Lean and skillfully wrought, this novel hooks the reader and doesn't let go. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Four teenagers lost in a Florida cave for 24 hours spill their souls in this wordy, unevenly paced adventure. Off with his best friend, Randy, to explore a reported cave in the nearby national forest, Neil grudgingly allows his brother, David, and David's best friend, Terry, to tag along. They don't know what they're doing--Terry doesn't even bring a flashlight--and are soon lost, with scant supplies and no idea what to do next. From the beginning, it's obvious that no one (reader included) is going to have any fun; David and Randy have uncontrollable tempers and are at each other's throats from the first scene, Terry whines that they should never have let a jerk like him come along, and Neil hides his claustrophobia behind a cold, silent facade. All four eventually divulge secrets, but the revelations are either anticlimactic or undeveloped tangents. The characters speak in either sour-sounding put-downs or artificially coherent psychological insights, and aside from a sudden encounter with a rattlesnake there's little action or dramatic tension in the plot until the climax. In the end, Neil learns how to be more open about his feelings, and David, in convenient atonement for the fire he caused two years ago that resulted in the death of their younger sister, gets to rescue everyone. More confessional fiction than a survival story, this is likely to disappoint readers expecting another riveter like Sweeney's Shadow (1994). (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 9^-12. Ready for an adventurous change of pace, Neil and Randy, high-school athletes and good friends, venture into an intriguing cave in Ocala National Forest, with Neil's younger brother David and his friend Terry tagging along. Tension between the pairs of boys dogs the whole trek, reaching an explosive point when the cavers become lost. Will they make it out? Ace climber Neil attempts a breathtakingly suspenseful climb that almost succeeds. Meanwhile, the boys are forced to deal with one another and confront family secrets and tragedies, and by the time David discovers an ingenious, scary escape route, readers are on the edge of their seats. There's strong language and some explicitness, but Sweeney mixes excitement with finely crafted characters and credible psychological underpinnings to deliver a powerful punch. Anne O'Malley