A Confederate tide rolls north, the Solution in its wake. This is the mission of a battalion of slave hunting snakes, young draftees, really just boys. There are stoic snakes and sadistic snakes, and even just a sweaty snake, all at the mercy of the man who never gets lost.

The North has young warriors too, a collection of war orphans known as hill dogs. Eric and his band of back country boys survive the wilderness with a feisty young lady named Helen. They engage in their own form of resistance, acts of sabotage that force the snakes to guard every worthless bridge and power pole in Underdown country. In time they convince the snakes that even the forests have turned against them and ferocious beasts are lurking everywhere.

It is these invisible young shepherds who lurk underground, somewhere in the hills, ready to guide a refugee to safety. These refugees have their brave heroes too. They bear incredible stories of narrow escapes, and they are ready to join the cause of the hill dogs. Together they learn the horrific secret hiding inside the old reform school, and they launch a plan of rescue and resistance.

When snakes and hill dogs tangle, which will see their master's lies unravel? There is only one Solution.

Sunday, March 31, 2013