(112)The Inverted Forest by John Dalton

The Inverted Forest

by John Dalton

Publication Date : July 19, 2011

336 Pages

Buy it Here

Summer time is synonymous with summer camp. Children of all ages have been going off to summer camp for decades. And where there are summer camps, there are camp counselors. Usually kids themselves, counselors are usually in their late teens early twenties. College kids hoping to earn some money while having a fun summer.

The Inverted Forest is about a summer camp set in the Ozark hills of Missouri. The elderly camp owner has just fired his entire staff for swimming naked in the pool a few days before their first campers arrive. In a fit of desperation he hires anyone he can find in a hope to get them trained before the first campers arrive. The first group of campers are unique, though, as they are residents of Missouri's State Hospitals. They are a challenging and needy group of campers. While their bodies are anywhere from 20 to 40 years old, their minds have never developed past childhood. One counselor in particular, Wyatt Huddy, is struggling with his duties. Wyatt has a physical malformity that causes a lot of people to confuse him with the campers. Yet in his quiet, steady way, he is exactly what the campers and the camp needs. Until there is a shocking sudden act of violence that rocks the camp to it's core. Things will never be the same again.

The Inverted Forest is a magnificent piece of literature. It's beauty is the slow, detailed way the author takes with setting the story. The history of the camp, the beauty of the Ozarks, the life that Wyatt Huddy has lived. There isn't a lot of flash or excitement to The Inverted Forest. It is a story that is carefully plotted out and told with such precision. As a reader we know that something "shocking" is going to happen, and can even predict what is coming. It is after "the event" that the the "truth" about what SHOULD have happened that summer comes to light. And that is far more shocking than "the event."

I really enjoyed The Inverted Forest. I was never bored with the story, per se, but it was not your typical "summer camp" story. And really, I was SHOCKED by what came to light after "the event". Like I literally gasped, because it was not what I expected. The Inverted Forest is on sale today at your favorite bookstore.