Arlon Stubbe

Fear Trek Arlon Stubbe

Kate Breckinridge, associate professor of social anthropology, plans to spend part of her summer visiting an indigenous village in the southern part of Brazil. But her real goal is to seek out and study a small group of uncontacted people rumored to live deep in the rainforest and known only as the 'Ones to be feared'. Instead of finding them, they find her, and what began as a simple quest for knowledge turns into a struggle to stay alive and re-examine life's meaning. Along the way, Kate encounters Max Schraeder - the man who will serve as the lead guide on her trek - and his assistant, a young man named Paulino. The first of these is crude, coarse and a womanizer, while the second is a bit naive, but basically decent. A third man she meets is a villager who guides them deep into the rainforest. They all encounter members of an uncontacted band, and that produces tragic consequences, not just for the men but also for Kate, who enters a world she never imagined she'd be in - let alone need to adopt as her own. What ensues is dramatic and wrenching, providing Kate with any number of choices - ones that not only involve her own future, but the potential fate of the band's members. How all that gets resolved makes up the final chapters of FEAR TREK, an ending that will leave the reader relieved - yet wanting more. Is there a sequel in the works? Most likely. But this book stands alone in granting a different perspective on the larger issues of our present time - racism, sexism, misogyny, sexual abuse and patriarchy.