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Seventeen-year-old Jeremy Prine is left with nothing. His father died years before in a horrible mining accident, and now his mother is gone. He’s living with his Aunt Anna, but things aren’t working out too well. Aunt Anna’s house is too small and too many people are trying to share the same space. Days after the funeral Aunt Anna gives Jeremy a letter from his mother. In it his mother tells him that when the time is right he should find his father’s brother, Uncle Aiden, and stay with him.
So Jeremy drops out of high school, packs up all his belongings into a duffle bag, and starts hitchhiking south to his uncle’s last known location. He’s beaten up and robbed of everything he possesses before he gets there, and is left with nothing. He has to rely fully on God.
Uncle Aiden isn’t exactly overjoyed to see Jeremy and tries to discourage him from hanging around. But in the letter, Jeremy’s mother told him that he had to stick it out. Because Uncle Aiden had something he needed to give Jeremy, and Jeremy had something to give Uncle Aiden. She didn’t tell Jeremy what that something was—she wants Jeremy to figure it out on his own. Will Jeremy be able to handle living with a man who clearly doesn’t want him? And will he be able to figure out what it was his mother wanted him to know?
At first, I was kind of doubtful about BAD GROUND. As a mother of a young teenager, it really hurt to have Jeremy go through some of the things he had to endure on the way to his uncle. But it served to endear Jeremy to me. By the time he reached his uncle’s apartment, I cared deeply about what happened to Jeremy.
BAD GROUND has several laugh-out-loud moments in it, and other not-so-happy
moments that will bring a tear to the eye. This book is sure to appeal
both to male and female readers. Mr. Cramer is a master story teller and
I look forward to reading more of his work. BAD GROUND is a book for the
keeper shelf.
Reviewed by Laura V. Hilton
for The Road to Romance
June 14, 2004
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