Back Before Dark: Sometimes rescuing a friend from the darkness means going in after him.

by Tim Shoemaker

Overview

Praise for Code of Silence

“Deliberate, plausible, and gritty whodunit.” –Booklist Starred Review

Praise for Back Before Dark

“The climax? You will not have any fingernails left by the final page. –Booklist

Taken!

A detour through the park leads Cooper, Gordy, Hiro, and Lunk straight into a trap, and Gordy is abducted!

The kidnapper, a brilliant high-school student with a bitter agenda, thinks it’s all a big game, but evil has a way of escalating and consuming.

Despite the best of police efforts, the hours tick by without a clue or a ransom call, leaving everyone to their own fears. Gordy is gone. Cooper descends deeper into a living nightmare, imagining the worst for his best friend and cousin. Hours stretch into days, and talks of a memorial service begin to surface. But Cooper still feels his cousin is alive and develops a reckless plan, changing all the rules. Now the one who set out to rescue his friend needs to be rescued himself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310737643
Publisher:	Zonderkidz
Publication date:	02/25/2014
Series:	A Code of Silence Novel , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	412,405
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	8 - 18 Years

About the Author

Tim Shoemaker is a national speaker and author of eleven books, including Code of Silence, Back Before Dark, and the third in the series, Below the Surface. His nonfiction titles include Super Husband, Super Dad … You Can Be the Hero Your Family Needs. Tim has three grown sons and has been happily married for over thirty years. Tim has also been working with youth on a volunteer basis for over twenty years—and still loves it. Connect with Tim on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Author Tim Shoemaker

Editorial Reviews

In the second Code of Silence novel (and sequel to Code of Silence), Shoemaker offers another tale of mystery, suspense, and the peril that can accompany loyalty. Friends Cooper, Gordy, Hiro, and Lunk think they are doing the right thing when they try to help someone near the park. But the good deed results in Gordy's being abducted. When the police are stymied by the crime, Cooper and the other kids do their own investigating, and Cooper's powerful motivation to save his cousin Gordy leads him into a terrifying predicament. The author largely succeeds at building tension and creating truly harrowing situations, though several repetitive scenes and an abundance of descriptive detail add some extraneous bulk and occasionally slow the pace of the central plot line. Readers may guess the kidnapper's identity (aided by some foreshadowing) but they will still be on the edge of their seats anticipating the fate of Cooper and Gordy right till the book's end. Shoemaker gives the proceedings a moral grounding as characters pray, question why God lets bad things happen, and ponder the true meaning of friendship. An author's note and questions for discussion also focus on these themes. Ages 8-12. Agent: Terry Burns, Hartline Literary Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly