Review by Ben Jonjak

"Carver: High Mountain Tragedy" by C.H. Foertmeyer is a highly emotional tale about two boys who lose their faith in civilized justice and decide to take matters into their own hands. This is exactly the kind of book that can only find its place as an underground publication because the tale is far too incendiary for the mainstream reader. "Carver" is a book that could easily be misinterpreted by readers and provoke reactions raging from terror to sadness to indignant rage. This is a book that does not work or endeavor to work in a traditional sense of the word. "Carver" is more of a thought experiment that uses the language of a novel to explore one of the most horrific tragedy types that continues to confront American society. To call the book a success or a failure is to undermine its purpose. But it can be said without hesitation that "Carver" is a work that resonates in the reader with a disturbing power.

Of all the tragedies and horrors that confront people of the modern world, I don't think that any are as terrible as the prospect of a school shooting. The idea that innocent children would succumb to a murderous rage is terrifying on an unparalleled level. In recent tragedies such as these, the experts and the media have given no explanations other than the fact that the shooters involved were psychotic or that they had been listening to the music of Marilyn Manson. Such statements are far from conclusive and are borderline absurd, but it seems the intense anguish brought about by these episodes saps the ambition of our society to truly pursue a more revealing answer. Or maybe we don't look because we are afraid the true cause of the event will be more damning and terrible than the crime itself.

Wiley, Bryce, and Kevin are three children in Foertmeyer's book that are expected to take an unfair share of abuse at their school and in their private lives. During the course of the novel, tragedy befalls them, and they decide to wreak a vengeance of their own making rather than rely on the authority figures that have failed them before. Foertmeyer does a good job in making his three principal characters believable. At no time do they descend into a caricature of evil, but instead they are portrayed as naive children who are subject to the treacherous currents of misperception.

Foertmeyer's book is written in a fairly effective style that marches efficiently through the narrative. There are some very nice passages about the three outcast boys' explorations in the woods and their fascination with "mountain men" that, in a different book, would have evoked memories of Tom Sawyer. However, "Carver" is a book with a black lining, and it hangs over the story with a threat of impending doom.

I'm not sure that I really approved of the ending, but I can't decide if it is because of some misjudgment on the part of the author or if I was just uncomfortable with where his thought experiment took him. The one real complaint I have about this book is that there are certain quarters in which it fails to cast blame. Wiley, Bryce, and Kevin are abused by various people at school, but there is never any mention about how it is the responsibility of the school's administrators to keep such events from happening. Neither is there a criticism of parents who allow their children to grow into spiteful, superficial brats.

Overall, however, I found "Carver" to be a quite daring work. It isn't necessarily an entertaining read, and it doesn’t work as escapism, but it will set you looking down some dark corridors and maybe even bring you to an insight you wouldn't have come to on your own.

The End

Review by:   Laurel Johnson
Midwest Book Review

C.H. Foertmeyer has taken an all-too-familiar sadness in America today - the fate of troubled teens - and breathed new life into the subject. Although Carver features fictional characters and events, the reality was hair raising to me. The author builds his story very well.

Kevin Reynolds, Wiley Coates, and Bryce Spencer are good kids and long time pals, just average teenagers trying to survive their adolescence and enjoy activities they like. Due to various physical, social, or financial shortcomings, all three boys have been objects of ridicule for years. The cruelty of their peers and fellow students is bewildering and more painful as their High School years progress. Still, the boys share common interests - skiing, hunting and camping, exploring the Rocky Mountain wilderness - so they hang together, hoping graduation will change their lot.

Mary Clemmons is a spiteful, snobbish student, spoiled rotten by her wealthy father. Her best friend and confidant is Alicia Koppe, a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Whatever Mary wants, Mary gets by one means or another. And she wants Bryce to pay for telling that she cheated on exams. Her revenge is plotted, and with Alicia's help, Bryce ends up dead. Kevin and Wiley know who caused their friend's death and decide to work their own revenge on the two girls who've made their life a living hell for years.

Foertmeyer makes good use of the Rocky Mountain environs as he builds this tale of good boys driven to an awful revenge by circumstance. In fact, his descriptive passages of the natural, wild beauty of the place lulled me into a false sense of hope about the outcome of Carver. Sheriff Al Dramico and his deputy Stan are sly investigators. Nothing slips by them, and in the end, all the guilty parties pay a different price. How the tale plays out is better left unrevealed by me. I suggest you read the book to learn the answers.

Carver is more than a novel. It's a social commentary on the world we've come to know through shocking vignettes on TV and in the newspaper. It made me shiver just a little, knowing that no matter how good a person is - how noble the motive - we could be forced into a hell not of our making.

I recommend this book for adolescents and adults. There are valid lessons to be learned in it. Mr. Foertmeyer writes well and I'm looking forward to his next creation.

Review by: Stacey Bucholz
All About Murder Reviews
AllAboutMurder.com

5 Daggers

In a small town in Montana, by the name of Carver, you will meet three lifelong friends. Bound to each other out of survival and a love for the wilderness. Kevin, Bryce and Wiley are three boys that are tormented in High School by their classmates on a daily basis.

Kevin's teasing began after coming down with polio. The virus affects the way he runs. So the kids call him "Spider". His friend Bryce has been raised with strict morals and sees right and wrong in strictly black and white. He will report any cheating or rule breaking by his fellow classmates without hesitation. Bryce truly can't understand why his classmates hate him for this reason and he thinks everyone should live by these strict rules. Wiley is the fast tempered one that is known as "Taxi" or "Dumbo" because of his big ears.

Three friends with different reasons for being teased all of their lives and bound together through friendship and survival.

The two chief tormentors of these boys are Mary and Alicia. When Bryce tells on Mary for cheating on a test she plans to make him pay for it. She overhears the boys making plans to go skiing the following morning and sets a trap for Bryce. Her hatred ends up going too far and she and Alicia accidentally kill him. What is even worse, Mary and Alicia don't even feel bad about killing him. They only care that they don't get caught.

Kevin and Wiley know what really happened on the mountain and plan to cover up Mary and Alicia's crime from the Sheriff so that they can turn the tables on their tormentors and prosecute the girls themselves. When Mary and Alicia realize that their murder has been deemed an accident, they don't feel thankful, they just get meaner. And they go out of their way to make sure that Kevin and Wiley hurt every single day from the loss of their best friend.

CARVER: HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY is an excellent book! I found the strange twist in taking the law into their own hands perfect! What better way to exact revenge for Bryce then to do it themselves? A boy who only viewed right and wrong, in black and white, would have loved to been alive to see his friends bring his two killers to justice. And in such a personal way.

C.H. Foertmeyer has written a truly gripping story that will pull you into the book and hold you there till the end. His characters are wonderful and horrible. And that's just the way they are supposed to be. I recommend this book highly and can't wait to read more by Mr. Foertmeyer!

Review by: Viviane Crystal
Member of RIO
www.crystalreviews.com

Seeing the title of this book, the reader will probably sense the upcoming hell and have the temptation to run! However, this book not only should be read by a few interested people but also should be mandatory reading in all schools and by all parents. Wiley Coates, Kevin Reynolds, and Bryce Spencer are best friends, united in their protective and raging front to peers who continuously and mercilessly torment them.

Getting a laugh and feeling superior prompts the abuse, but Mary and Alicia's seemingly prankish plans go far more awry than anyone could imagine. This last straw provokes planned revenge which again spins so far out of control that an entire town will reel from its effects for years.

Laced into this slowly evolving but potent nightmare, Foertmeyer weaves the living legend of the Blind Valley Hermit. How could Sam, the 19th century legend, with his trusty Sharpe rifle still be alive and communicating with anyone entering an ancient caldera bowl deep in the Colorado mountains?

Where is the moral consciousness in students who thrive on demeaning certain classmates? How could parents miss the solitude and rising hatred in children who are even less than popular among their peers? Why is there no reflection about giving a .357 New Model Blackhawk magnum gun comfortably nested in a Hunter Model 158 holster as a birthday present to one such lonely teenager? This poignant story will foster similar thoughts. However, it needs to do more than foster awareness, questions, and reflections.

Rather than exploiting the Columbine killings, C. H. Foertmeyer has crafted a wonderful story that meets the criteria for one of the best tension-paced crime stories but so much more importantly this amazing writer has penned a message that screams for acknowledgment and action about each and every young adult who innocently or deliberately may be part of this "voiceless hell."

Awards are usually offered for books that masterfully depict real life. Foertmeyer deserves more than an award for a book that has the timely potential to improve real life for countless young men and women.