by Karen McCarraher
Swamped! by Ken Wells with Hillary Wells is the story of two teenagers trapped in the Great Atchafalaya Swamp in southern Louisiana. Jack Landry is a 17 year old swamp guide. New York philanthropist Terence FitzGerald and his teenage daughter, Olivia, have signed up for a swamp tour. Joe, the bush pilot, plans to fly them to the main camp in the northern section of the swamp. As they are flying there, a sudden storm comes up and the plane is tossed around until it finally goes down.
When the plane settles, Jack sees that only the back half of the plane is left. He can’t see any of the nose of the plane. His section of the plane has landed in some murky water and is sinking in the mud. He finds that Olivia is unconscious. He knows they must get out of the plane before it sinks. He ties the life vests together to form a sort of raft. He manages to get the unconscious Olivia out of the plane and onto the raft. He finds the emergency kit in the plane, but the water bottles are broken and the food has been washed away. He is able to find silver thermoblanket, a lighter, and a pocketknife.
He sets out slugging through the knee high muck and walks and swims for hours while pushing the raft with Olivia on it. Jack is looking for a clearing or a ridge of dry land but all he sees are cypresses and swamp. Until he sees the snake—a huge cottonmouth. Now Jack’s grandfather had taught him a lot about surviving in the swamp and now Jack has to recall how to use that information. The snake starts swimming towards them intent on biting. Jack manages to maneuver behind the snake, grab its tail, and swing it around into a tree, breaking its back.
Finally he sees a clearing. But the log he thought he could grab onto turns out to be an eight foot alligator. Jack manages to climb on the alligator’s back and hold its jaws shut until the alligator finally slips into the muck and goes away. Jack pulls the raft onto dry land to make camp. He finds moss and sticks and a few branches to make a fire. Olivia finally wakes up and is totally appalled at what happened and where they were.
Their many adventures start: Jack hears gunshots and runs toward the sound. He crosses an old oak tree bridge; it splits; and he is thrown into the muck below. A log lands on his legs and he is trapped for hours. Finally Olivia comes looking for him and using a branch as a lever, is able to get the log off Jack. They continue to follow the path on the other side and come upon an old fishing cabin on stilts. Since it was raining quite heavily, they run underneath the cabin to get their bearings. But they have company. A black panther is curled up in the corner. As they slowly back away, the panther starts towards them. They manage to run up the steps of the cabin and get inside. The panther follows them to the porch but eventually walks away. They find water and eight cans of beans in the cabin—food and water—they are overjoyed.
After a day or two, Jack explores the area around the cabin hoping the owner might have left a pirogue, a type of boat, and that they could use it to get out of the swamp. He finds a boat with an outboard motor near the bank of the water. He starts looking for the owner and finds a huge field of marijuana. The man who owns the boat is not happy to see Jack.
So does Jack get out of this predicament? Are the two teenagers able to get out of the swamp? Is anyone looking for them and do they find them? What about Olivia’s father and the pilot? Ahh, dear readers, for the answers you will have to read on.
This is an intriguing story about the ingenuity of the two teenagers and their survival instincts. They faced many more challenges than I described above and reading was very easy. Every time I had to put it down, I could not wait to get back to it. This is a story for all ages.
Author Ken Wells grew up near the Louisiana swamps with an alligator hunting father and a gumbo cooking mother. A longtime writer for the Wall Street Journal, he has also authored five novels about the Cajun bayous. He divides his time between Chicago and a cabin in the wilds of Maine.
Hillary Wells (Ken’s niece) is a writer, producer and comedienne who rose from the bayous to the Los Angeles comedy scene. She now resides in New Orleans where she works in the state’s developing filmmaking industry.
Swamped! is published by Koehler books and is available at amazon.com.