Hit the Ground Running

Eric Bakker, now in grade eleven, has had a childhood straight out of National Geographic magazine. Following his parents on their anthropological trips, Eric has amassed a vast amount of knowledge of peoples and cultures from all around the world. This encouraged a life lived outdoors and a love of parkour. Moving from San Francisco to a school on the edge of British Columbia’s forest, Eric’s swapped his parkour playground of the concrete and fences, for trees and boulders.

Along with his skills at parkour, Eric’s life with his globetrotting parents and older brother Michael has been quite the ride. That is until his parents abruptly left their positions at the University of Berkley in San Francisco to come to the University of Victoria. Michael is now studying military science in college back in California, and Eric had been sequestered at Brentwood, a boarding school near Victoria, British Columbia, and life had taken a serious turn towards the dreary. Things change when Eric receives a video message from Michael holding a mysterious stone ball, “Eric…Mom and Dad are gone. I don’t know what happened, but I am going to find out.”

Skipping class, Eric confides in Tess, fellow truant with an interest in drama and old movies. Tess immediately knows who to go to for help. Lakey and her twin brother Seth, two fellow day-students, are technology wizards and sometime-computer hackers who jump at the chance to help.

Eric begins to realize that his parents share a big secret, one that others will kill for and one that could mean the discovery of eternal life. In a race to find Michael and his parents, Eric teams up with Tess, Seth and Lakey to search the West Coast, ending up in Montana. Here they find Michael and the myth behind the stone ball: the quest for eternal life. Stockton, the man obsessed with this quest, employs scientists, doctors and thugs to ensure that he is successful. The only thing Stockton needs now is Eric and Michael’s parents. After a daring rescue and escape, Eric realizes, that although they have learned the secret and have saved Michael, they still have no idea where their parents are.

Hit the Ground Running, the first in a trilogy, is an action, adventure story with satisfying characters who will appeal to readers who enjoy detail, technology and a clear mission. From teenage computer hackers, thrilling chase scenes where Eric employs his parkour skills, and myths from ancient cultures that promise to bring the dead alive, this story will have readers excited to read the sequel, Flow Like Water.