Black Water Rising

It’s November in the small town of Black River, and heavy rains are about to flood the community’s dam, destroying homes and roads. Locals are calling on TransNational Power, the hydroelectric company that owns the dam, to open the gates and drop the water level, but local management has been overruled by their parent company and ordered to keep it closed. It’s got some residents hinting it’s time they took matters into their own hands.

Seventeen-year-old Stanton Frame is caught in between: his father manages the dam but his girlfriend, Jessica, has joined EcoAction: a radical environmental activist group that’s taken an interest in the matter. With just hours until the town floods, tensions are running high between protestors and police. When Stanton comes across instructions for homemade explosives, he realizes balancing his loyalties may not be as simple as he had hoped.

Advance Praise for Black Water Rising:

"Small town versus big money. Threats of a flood ensure the big personalities rise to the top while others sink, leaving nature to sort it all out. As the rains fall and Black River rises, so do the problems with politics and commitment. Robert Rayner sheds light on the big time issues facing small towns throughout Canada." – Sarah Butland

"Just when you think the tension has drawn just about as taut as it can get, the author picks up a six-pound sledgehammer and drives it on home. Black Water Rising is a rolling read that will sweep the reader away like a paper boat caught up in a flash flood. You will turn the pages with finger-blistering intensity. This YA novel, guaranteed to entertain and enthrall, is Rayner’s best work yet!" - Steve Vernon

"Stanton Frame wants to do the right thing. But sometimes "the right thing" isn’t clear-cut. In this environmentally charged, edgy drama, when corporate greed threatens his town, Stanton struggles to do the right thing by his girlfriend, his parents, his community, and the environment, but mostly himself." – Rich Meyrick