Book Description

What happens when you have to choose between doing the right thing, knowing disaster will ensue, or taking the wrong action and saving everything you love? Haunted by his mother's sudden death when he was young, Ben Gates spends his life trying to be a hero, but can never seem to get it right. Ben's good intentions and sincere yearnings to make a difference draw him into he Mangrove Underground, a half-baked eco-terror plot to 'save' the backcountry by scaring away tourists and transplants. After Ben unwittingly betrays the group his best friend, Mangrove Underground mastermind Henry Moton, goes missing and is presumed dead in a wilderness fire. Ten years later, Ben is a supervisor at the wilderness park. Henry Moton and his revolution are a local legend. Then a series of mysterious swamp fires erupt, and keep erupting, despite the park's best efforts. Legend gives way to conspiracy theory, and Henry Moton, still idolized by many locals, is assumed to be alive and as hell-bent on mayhem as ever. Ben becomes a man on a mission: discover who's setting the fires, save his hometown, and exorcise the ghost of Henry Moton. Ben's riveting tale is told in a series of intertwined narratives. As the stories converge, Ben realizes what he must do to save the community he loves and transform his life into something he can be proud of. Part Florida eco-thriller and part hero's quest, Mangrove Underground subverts the expectations of both genres in its tale of journeys and endings and how getting there changes you, with atonement to be won by those brave enough to rise above their transgressions.