THE DEGREES OF BARLEY LICK

Barley Lick, an avid 16-year-old geocacher, is dealing with a series of daunting issues.

He’s competing in a highly selective, multiday geocaching tournament, using his GPS system and well-honed skills to locate a series of caches hidden around British Columbia. His main competitor is his former—now detested—girlfriend, attractive, smart, and determined Phyllis. Since he’s still grieving the sudden death of his beloved father, it’s not easy to keep his mind in the game. The final—and greatest—challenge is that a policeman Barley’s mother’s been dating taps him to assist in the search for a kidnapped child, Benjamin, since the kidnapper is using geocaches to provide clues to the boy’s location. Chapters periodically offer readers Benjamin’s terrified point of view but never for long enough to establish his personality and maximize the suspense. Phyllis, meanwhile, furious that Barley keeps calling her Syphilis, punches him mightily in the face, breaking his nose—an incident that others shrug off. After Phyllis is mauled by a bear and in danger of bleeding to death, the action abruptly switches to a long flashback that tries to explain their earlier breakup. Readers are not given sufficient clues to work out the identity of the kidnapper; worse, that person’s lack of connection to geocaching makes its extensive use in the story puzzling. Main characters are White by default.

A somewhat rambling tale that will most appeal to fellow geocachers.