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A ferry in Lake Superior sets the scene for the launch of separate vacations for Robbie, Wade, Quinton, and Miriam. Boredom draws them into a card game with an engaging couple: middle-aged, blue-eyed Evan and his much younger Swedish blonde wife, Elke.Â
Robbie is battling with his half-generation-older, adventurous brother, who he expects has ulterior motives in taking him on a first-ever hiking trip. Wade is his father's shadow, tagging along with the artist on his annual wildlife photo hunt. He's a budding musician, but he's only beginning to imagine where that can take him. Quinton is a geek, the son of a wealthy entrepreneur, and a black sheep in a family of marriage-obsessed women. Miriam is spending her family's vacation-not hers-fishing from a small boat. Cooking and puzzles are her love, but now thanks to her friend, Elke, so is crocheting.Â
At end of separate vacations, teenagers Robbie, Wade, Quinton, and Miriam find themselves together again, just in time to witness a murder...in the wilderness...away from any police. Isle Royale, as it turns out, is also "treasure island," and that made it dangerous.Â
How can they stay safe? Who will believe them? What really happened? It's all too much for four kids. They make a pact to return when it's safe, when the time is right. In the face of panic and under the threat of harm, Robbie looks back at the mystery island and admonishes the rest, "Meet me ten years from tonight." And then another disaster changes everything...except for Robbie's words.Â
Robbie will develop his body and strive to become as much a glorious athlete, outdoorsman, and leader as his brother. He will learn that will alone does not make a hero.Â
Wade will declare his independence from his family and his past as he pursues a music career at all costs. He will learn that opportunity at the expense of wisdom is a fool's trap. He will learn that even painful memories must not be discarded.Â
Miriam will struggle to put what she remembers in context, struggling with alternate personalities and voices in her head. She'll learn that the world is not on her side, that whatever she needs, she must take, sexual encounters included. She'll discover that even in the loneliest hell, self-absorption has much too high a cost. She'll find out that suppressing horrible memories could eat her alive.Â
Quinton will develop a business empire in public as he researches the Isle Royale horrors in private. He'll learn that self-protection must be balanced with compassion, that trust is not too much of a luxury, and that you can't ever know everything about someone.Â
By the end of this coming of age book, through harrowing leaps of faith, serious lapses of judgment, sexual encounters, and startling revelations, two will have prepared constantly, one with his body, one with his brains. One will have struggled to remember. One will have struggled to forget. But before the appointed time, all four teenagers will remember Robbie's admonition to meet "ten years from tonight" on Isle Royale. They will dare to discover what happened, to make things right, and to make themselves richer for it. But they'll never guess what's waiting for them...on Murder Island.Â