Paul Ebbs

Tree Face and the Cripple Paul Ebbs

"First off, I didn't mean to kill my Dad."

Sam Croker did just that and yet it was the least of his problems.

Crash-landed and alone in the South American rainforest, kilometers from anywhere, with no equipment or survival skills would be the ultimate challenge for almost anyone. But Sam has been paraplegic for years. He can't walk. Has no feeling in his legs. Has no food, and no means to obtain it.

If he lasts three days without being drowned, poisoned, or eaten it will be a miracle. That miracle arrives from two unexpected directions-a hideous face carved into a tree which invades Sam's fevered mind as if it were alive and the disabled girl who worships it as her God-and so the first glimmers of possible rescue begin to shine.

But the Kik-Kik wants to keep Sam for herself and drug smugglers want to hunt down and kill them all.

Tree Face and the Cripple is a story of survival against the odds and an awkward, unlikely friendship based on profound misunderstandings. It is both a high-action suspense thriller with a shattering climax, and a spiritual journey for Sam from bitter, defeated, spoilt, rich kid, into someone altogether stronger. Well, it could be, if Sam lives that long.