Saturday, March 22, 2014

"A Stairway to Danger" by Ben Woodard


A Stairway to Danger
by Ben Woodard


A Stairway to Danger is the first book in the Shakertown Adventure Series. Be sure to check out my blog post about the next book in the series, Steps Into Darkness.






Description
It’s 1923 and Tom and Will, two small town boys, discover the body of a local deputy. Was the death an accident? The boys don’t think so and become immersed in a harrowing mystery. A huge assailant with a single gold tooth attempts to kill them. With their friends, they battle the toothless giant and a shadowy group.
Will Tom’s "crazy" book ideas save them or get them killed? And where does the stairway to danger lead?

Excerpt
Will used his boot to roll the body over. An arm flopped in the water and the face pointed directly at Tom. A face with no eyes. Tom sucked in a breath and staggered back. He slumped to his knees staring at the ground.
“Fish ate em,” Will said, toeing the body.
Tom raised his eyes to see Will studying him, his head cocked. Tom turned away. His stomach rolled like the back of a hay wagon, and the taste of bile filled his mouth. His breath came in short gasps as his mind went back to that narrow staircase four years ago. He felt those walls closing in again. Sweat rolled down the nape of his neck. He bent over, gagged, and threw up. Not just because of the eyeless body. He wanted to empty out all his guilt and self-loathing onto the rocky hillside.
“Never seen a dead body before, huh?”
Tom glared. “No. Not that.”

Review
I have never experienced a book like this. I started reading it at 10 pm and thought I'd read a couple of chapters. I didn't look up at the clock again until 1:59 am when I finished the book. This is an adventure! Stairway To Danger is a page turner and the end of the chapter makes you want to read the next one. The adventure in this book was heart pumping and filled with surprise, humor and mystery.
Ben Woodard is a master story teller and the characters are so believable and addictive.
I love how he captured the history and events in this story and created such a wonderful book that I just wanted to go on and on so it did not end.

About the Author

A spellbinding storyteller of high adventure, Ben has walked the Great Wall of China, hiked in Tibet, and climbed to 18,000 feet on Mt Everest. And recently learned to surf in Hawaii.
Ben is active in SCBWI and a member of a local children's writing critique group. He is a former Marketing Manager for a major corporation and ran his own marketing consulting business. He started writing children's stories in 2008 and has written picture books, middle grade and young adult. Stories of adventure and wonder. Stories that inspire and educate, and, most of all, entertain. His titles include The TrestleThe Hunt, A Terrible Price, The Boy Who Flew With Eagles, A Stairway to Danger, and Steps Into Darkness.
Ben lives in Kentucky with his wife Lynda.

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