Beneath

Pat and Coop are brothers living in an upper-class DC neighborhood. Coop, the eldest, is a bit of a Luddite who has no interest in the accoutrements surrounding him, holidays or the electronics so popular with his peers. Instead he’s only interested in reading “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “Dracula” by Bram Stoker; he loves tap dancing; he only eats tuna fish sandwiches. Most of all he likes being underground. The pivoting factor of this story hinges on the night that Coop takes his little brother Pat into the mile long tunnel they’d been digging under the neighborhood and accidently hits a gas line. The explosion puts Pat in the hospital and is probably the last straw causing the breakup of his cold parent’s marriage; thus setting the wheels in motion for Coop to move away to follow his strong internal desire to explore places dark and deep.During a Christmas vacation after the divorce Pat’s dad and new sweetheart were going birding in Belize. Pat was supposed to go to visit his mom and her new boyfriend but he traded in the ticket and went to NYC to search for Coop. He’d heard from him via a voice recording and they’d been covertly corresponding for a while now. All he has is a Post Office Box number but that was a start.This book is a fascinating account, done in diary and epistolary format, of the adventurous search one brother made to find his sibling. Coop has gone far underground beneath the streets of NYC where a whole society lives in the tunnels that were constructed hundreds of years ago. How these people live and support themselves offers some insight into many of the tangent microcosms that exist on the fringes of civilizations all over the earth. The author has geared this book for the Jr. High audience so has definitely sanitized his counter-culture sects but that does not detract in any way from the fascinating pictures he has drawn.The characters in this story are riveting. The parents are educated, cold and aloof. The below-ground characters run the gamut from supportive to cynical and dangerous. What Pat and the reader find is that there is always the thread of community and the need for cooperation in order to survive. Following Pat’s journey through, not one, but two underground societies is a spellbinding journey for the reader.

I read this book with my 10 year old son. It was really great for any kid who loves adventure books. Plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments. Interesting characters you come to know and care about. Good guys and bad guys (and some of the bad guys are pretty bad - might not be a book for a child who is prone to nightmares or very sensitive.) It starts a little slowly, but hang in there. It gets great!

My 12 year old son loved this book. He could not put it down.

My son and I journeyed through this book together. He was ever resistant because his school was making him read. However, I could tell he was enjoying it because he kept telling me about it when he read it without me. Interesting plot with a lot of depth. Good read.

This book was absolutely amazing . In the beginning I thought that it wasn't going to be a good book but it turned out I was absolutely wrong.

Great author of books about technology and adventure.

GOOD PRODUCT!!

My son read this for book club and has moved on to Above. He is really enjoying the books and would read again.

Fantastic book by Roland Smith a MUST read for any one.