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Eddy Thompson is a classic example of a boy gone wrong
for lack of parental direction. This twelve-year-old boy has
a father who thinks nothing of taking a vehicle for a test
drive for a week with no intention of buying it. Naturally,
Eddie is a cheat – he cheats at school and he cheats at
games with his friends. In Max Elliot Anderson’s adventure
tale set in a snowy cabin in Michigan, Eddie
Thompson confronts a situation where he has to question his
own and his father’s penchant for cheating.
When the fathers are out ice fishing, Eddie and his
friends stay back at the cabin to occupy themselves
by playing games. As luck would have it, two particularly
inept thieves come to the cabin with a suitcase full of
money. When the police chases them to the cabin, the
thieves, erroneously assuming that the cabin is uninhabited
at this time of the year, drop the suitcase and run away.
When Eddie and his friends come across the suitcase filled
with money, the author Anderson uses the situation to have
the characters debate right and wrong. Naturally, Eddie
wants to keep the money, while his friends want to give it
to the police. The change in Eddie’s thinking is set up in a
very plausible way, one that most readers can identify with.
In a terrifying incident that may be uncomfortable for
some young readers, Eddie and his friends confront the
thieves again. Anderson, perhaps deliberately, makes the
thieves comically funny which makes the middle part of the
book particularly interesting. Anderson’s books typically
have a significant thrill quotient and this book does not
fall short. As a bonus the reader is confronted with a
protagonist who is not perfect, yet, in the end makes the
right decision.
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Terror at Wolf Lake