by Dusti Bowling (Author), Aaron Shedlock (Narrator), Tantor Audio (Publisher)

An Audiobook Review

Dusti Bowling’s 24 HOURS IN NOWHERE is “a keeper.” This book is for middle school or young teens, but readers on either side of that age range will enjoy and identify with it. Hey, I’m in my 70s, and I was angered, thrilled, scared, and possibly even came close to crying along with those four “heroic” kids in the story.

Nowhere, Arizona is “the least livable town in the United States,” or so the saying among the people goes. It’s a dead-end place for most of the “trailer” kids who live there, missing one or more of their parents from circumstances beyond their control.  They are loners for the most part, but four in this story are about to become solid BFFs.

Our main guy, Gus, is a bright 13-year-old living with his aged grandmother who watches TV almost 24/7. He dreams of going to college someday and makes passing the S.A.T. his way of “getting out” of Nowhere. 

Unfortunately, Gus is small for his age and the prime focus of the town’s bully, Bo Taylor. When Bo is mashing Gus’s face into a cactus and is about to do some serious harm, Rossi Scott, one of the best girl dirt bike riders in the town, comes to his rescue. She gives Bo her dirt bike to make him stop, but the bully takes the bike AND requires Gus to get some gold from the spooky Dead Frenchman Mine if he wants to buy back Rossi’s bike.

Gus is determined to go into the scary mine. He packs his backpack with a trowel (can’t afford a shovel), a mini-flashlight, some Twinkies, and a pickle jar of water. (He also always carries his grandfather’s old pocket watch. Psssst. This causes a HUGE discovery later!!!)

At the last minute, his friend Jessie decides to join him. When they get to the mine, they meet up with Rossi (who can’t let him go alone) and Matthew (once a friend, but now paling around with bully Bo) “to make sure he actually finds gold and doesn’t just paint a rock.”

And so the wild, scary, daunting, truth-discovering, and almost deadly adventure begins.  In the process the four face mine collapses, mountain lions, bats, a true cave, and a black water lake. In the process, they share their “worst day ever,” and learn the meaning of friendship and putting others’ needs before your own. 

Yes, they get out of the mine 24 hours later, but not before injuries and a near-death experience.  Their friendship bond is strong as steel now, as they face bully Bo and cheer for Rossi in the most important race of her life!

I loved this book. She has a way of taking kids with identifiable deep needs and fears and turning them into conquerors.  I want to do that!

The narrator for this book is very good if you have the audio copy. You can hear small nuances in each of the kids’ voices, as well as the few adults in the story.