Carver: High Mountain Tragedy is a fast-paced "Twain-like" adventure into the lives and the world of two teenagers who have been pushed beyond the brink by their heartless classmates. Circumventing the law, suppressing evidence, and taking matters into their own hands is just the beginning of their fateful mistakes…tragedy lies just ahead! I cannot say enough about CARVER; HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY. It is a story that took place in the late 60's but is every bit as modern as today. It is a story that will take you back to your childhood and make you think. It will make you wonder if perhaps what you did during those years was perhaps something to be ashamed of, or maybe proud of. Depending on which side of the fence you were on. CARVER: HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY should be required reading for every teacher in the country, and it wouldn't hurt if a few parents read it too. Perhaps, just maybe the story wouldn't be repeated. And to top it off, it is a wonderful, adventure story with twists and turns that keep you reading and won't let you stop. A definite page-turner. It kept me enthralled to the very last page. I only hope for more from this great author, Charles Foertmeyer. He definitely knows how to please a reader, and at the same time make a statement we all need to listen to. In my opinion, Mr. Foertmeyer could very well be our modern day Samuel Clemons. He is that compelling. Review by: Sue Hartigan Member of RIO All About Murder Reviews   Excerpt     Kevin thought for a moment about how Bryce had been murdered. He tried to visualize Sam’s reaction to such a crime. It became very clear to Kevin that if Sam’s friend had been murdered in such a sneaky, spineless way, Sam would go to the ends of the Earth to seek out the cowardly murderer, and give no quarter!     Kevin’s conviction to the plan was cemented. He too, would give no quarter. He looked ahead to his father’s taillights. He felt the lump again, but it was smaller than before. How easily he had twisted the truth about their trip to Oriel Peak. It scared him to think how easily he had deceived his father this time. His father loved him, that was undeniable and unquestionable, and he was sorry that his dad had been forced to drive all the way to Bennett in the dead of night. Kevin was sorry that his dad had to make the long trip, but he was happy that he did. It would have been a long, lonely drive home, without him. There was something comforting about seeing his father’s taillights up ahead. He wasn’t alone, out here in this all-enveloping darkness.

Professional Reviews
Carver: High Mountain Tragedy
Review by: Sue Hartigan

Member of RIO
All About Murder Reviews

I have to make a confession. This review is about the hardest review I have ever written. Not because CARVER: HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY was a difficult, or bad book. Because it is everything but that. CARVER: HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY is filled with just about every human emotion that can be brought forth, from a human being. I will try to cover them all, although right now I honestly don't think I can.

When I started reading this book, I thought it was going to be another rehash of all the school shooting stories. It is everything but that. It is a story that will haunt you long after you put the book down for the last time. It is a story that is as equally as tragic as Columbine, and the others, But what happened in Carver, Montana, in 1969, was even more tragic in many ways.

CARVER: MOUNTAIN HIGH TRAGEDY takes the reader into the lives, feelings, and the minds of three troubled teenage boys, Bryce Spencer, Kevin Reynolds, and Wiley Coates. For years the three boys had suffered the abuses and torments of their fellow classmates at Carver High. The three boys became and stayed the closest of friends fighting this overwhelming torture together, until one day one of the chief tormentors, Mary Clemmons and her friend, Alicia Koppe, took their torment to a new high. They killed Bryce. Although it was suppose to start off as a prank, it ended in a horrible death.

Wiley took this opportunity to finally even the score with these two tormentors, and talked Kevin into helping him cover up what had really happened to Bryce, in order to take justice into their own hands.

What follows is not only gut wrenching, but also goes to show how constant torment and ridicule can result in the changing of the lives of everyone involved, and even those not involved. It can change the lives of families, and friends. It can change the lives of an entire community. This is not a victimless "crime" in anyway. The victims are very widespread. But, like in so many instances, what happened in Carver was not only tragic, it could have been avoided.

Mr. Foertmeyer has created characters that actually bring out the emotions in the reader. In my case I actually put faces to Kevin and Wiley. I remembered kids that I went through school with that were the brunt of torments from the other kids. Tormentors much like Mary and Alicia. And there was always a leader to this, much in the same way as Mary leads Alicia around, and also in this case, as Wiley leads Kevin into getting revenge.

Mr. Foertmeyer has a wonderful way of describing the mountains, snow, valleys, and even the nighttime sky. He actually brings you into this story in such a way that you feel a part of the story, not only with the characters but also with the scenes in which these characters are living their lives.

I cannot say enough about CARVER; HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY. It is a story that took place in the late 60's but is every bit as modern as today. It is a story that will take you back to your childhood and make you think. It will make you wonder if perhaps what you did during those years was perhaps something to be ashamed of, or maybe proud of. Depending on which side of the fence you were on.

CARVER: HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY should be required reading for every teacher in the country, and it wouldn't hurt if a few parents read it too. Perhaps, just maybe the story wouldn't be repeated.

And to top it off, it is a wonderful, adventure story with twists and turns that keep you reading and won't let you stop. A definite page-turner. It kept me enthralled to the very last page.

I only hope for more from this great author, Charles Foertmeyer. He definitely knows how to please a reader, and at the same time make a statement we all need to listen to. In my opinion, Mr. Foertmeyer could very well be our modern day Samuel Clemons. He is that compelling.


Carver: High Mountain Tragedy - Compelling!
Review by: Viviane Crystal
Member of RIO

Where does total lack of discipline and loving attention end? How is cruelty born and how does any semblance of compassion die?

Seeing the title of this book, the reader will probably sense the upcoming hell and have the temptation to run! However, this book not only should be read by a few interested people but also should be mandatory reading in all schools and by all parents. Wiley Coates, Kevin Reynolds, and Bryce Spencer are best friends, united in their protective and raging front to peers who continuously and mercilessly torment them.

Getting a laugh and feeling superior prompts the abuse, but Mary and Alicia's seemingly prankish plans go far more awry than anyone could imagine. This last straw provokes planned revenge which again spins so far out of control that an entire town will reel from its effects for years.

Laced into this slowly evolving but potent nightmare, Foertmeyer weaves the living legend of the Blind Valley Hermit. How could Sam, the 19th century legend, with his trusty Sharpe rifle still be alive and communicating with anyone entering an ancient caldera bowl deep in the Colorado mountains?

Where is the moral consciousness in students who thrive on demeaning certain classmates? How could parents miss the solitude and rising hatred in children who are even less than popular among their peers? Why is there no reflection about giving a .357 New Model Blackhawk magnum gun comfortably nested in a Hunter Model 158 holster as a birthday present to one such lonely teenager? This poignant story will foster similar thoughts. However, it needs to do more than foster awareness, questions, and reflections.

Rather than exploiting the Columbine killings, C. H. Foertmeyer has crafted a wonderful story that meets the criteria for one of the best tension-paced crime stories but so much more importantly this amazing writer has penned a message that screams for acknowledgment and action about each and every young adult who innocently or deliberately may be part of this "voiceless hell."

Awards are usually offered for books that masterfully depict real life. Foertmeyer deserves more than an award for a book that has the timely potential to improve real life for countless young men and women.



Carver: High Mountain Tragedy
Review by: Stacey Bucholz

All About Murder Reviews

http://www.allaboutmurder.com

5 Daggers

In a small town in Montana, by the name of Carver, you will meet three
lifelong friends. Bound to each other out of survival and a
love for the wilderness. Kevin, Bryce and Wiley are three boys that are
tormented in High School by their classmates on a daily
basis.

Kevin's teasing began after coming down with polio. The virus affects
the way he runs. So the kids call him "Spider". His friend
Bryce has been raised with strict morals and sees right and wrong in
strictly black and white. He will report any cheating or rule
breaking by his fellow classmates without hesitation. Bryce truly can't
understand why his classmates hate him for this reason
and he thinks everyone should live by these strict rules.
Wiley is the fast tempered one that is known as "Taxi" or "Dumbo"
because of his big ears.

Three friends with different reasons for being teased all of their lives
and bound together through friendship and survival.

The two chief tormentors of these boys are Mary and Alicia. When Bryce
tells on Mary for cheating on a test she plans to make
him pay for it. She overhears the boys making plans to go skiing the
following morning and sets a trap for Bryce. Her hatred
ends up going too far and she and Alicia accidentally kill him. What is
even worse, Mary and Alicia don't even feel bad about
killing him. They only care that they don't get caught.

Kevin and Wiley know what really happened on the mountain and plan to
cover up Mary and Alicia's crime from the Sheriff so
that they can turn the tables on their tormentors and prosecute the
girls themselves. When Mary and Alicia realize that their
murder has been deemed an accident, they don't feel thankful, they just
get meaner. And they go out of their way to make sure
that Kevin and Wiley hurt every single day from the loss of their best
friend.

CARVER: HIGH MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY is an excellent book! I found the strange
twist in taking the law into their own hands
perfect! What better way to exact revenge for Bryce then to do it
themselves? A boy who only viewed right and wrong, in black
and white, would have loved to been alive to see his friends bring his
two killers to justice. And in such a personal way.

C.H. Foertmeyer has written a truly gripping story that will pull you
into the book and hold you there till the end. His characters
are wonderful and horrible. And that's just the way they are supposed to
be. I recommend this book highly and can't wait to read
more by Mr. Foertmeyer!

Reader Reviews for "Carver:High Mountain Tragedy"

Reviewed by Tim Jeffries	8/23/2002
An excellent high-adventure story which I have recommended to my teenage son and to his school as a must read for teenagers. It presents perspectives on how bullying and intolerance can lead to dire consequences when handled incorrectly. A definite page-turner.
Reviewed by Gayle P.	7/27/2002
I've read it and I agree..it's a page turner. You feel you are in the locations the author describes, the characters are very real. Hard to put down. A must read for teens in my opinion.

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