As Scoutmaster for his son's Boy Scout troop for four years, Mike Klaassen enjoyed dozens of monthly campouts in Kansas. Weather conditions ranged from hundred-degree heat to ice storms. He also participated in four summer camps in Colorado and two ten-day treks through the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. In 1999, he received the Scoutmaster Award of Merit from the Boy Scouts of America and the National Eagle Scout Association. After a frustrating trip to local bookstores to find novels that might interest his teenage sons, Mike decided to write stories himself. THE BRUTE is Klaassen's first novel. CRACKS was published in September, 2006. Mike grew up on a farm near Whitewater, Kansas. After earning a degree in accounting from the University of Kansas, he became a Certified Public Accountant and worked for six years on public accounting. An interest in investments led him to a career as a stockbroker and Certified Financial Planner. After thirteen years in investments, including five years as branch manager of the Wichita office of a major brokerage firm, he became Chairman of the Board of the local bank his father co-founded.

Mike Klaassen
Action-Packed, Thought-Provoking Novels for Today's Teens.

THE BRUTE is about a sixteen-year-old on a tornado-stricken campout in the Flint Hills of Kansas. CRACKS is about troubled teens on a rampage as earthquakes from the New Madrid Fault rock the Ozarks of Arkansas.