Their chances seem impossible at the outset. A determined, obsessive boy scout, an arrogant 'Mr. America,' an old Italian deli man with a bad heart and a pretty flight attendant are thrown together on a Canadian mountainside.

Before they can escape to civilization they must confront bad weather, a wounded grizzly bear, criminal trappers and each other. Their greatest test will be to learn to work together, to become a team, in this case, Troop 402.

Chato discovers that his childhood dreams of a mysteriously beautiful girl were no childhood fantasies. It was no accident that Bereniki, the young Princess of Chamaeleon, reached out to Chato, the powerful new Elder, in their infancy. They are predetermined lovers who bonded to one another while they lay in their mothers' wombs.

Chatos' destination is Paris, the city of love, wherein he plans to find the girl of his dreams. However, the Shadow Group has asked him to take a day or two to handle a little business in between his ardor quest.

So, Chato immobilizes a terrorist hijacking, performs a quick assassination in the typical nine-to-five fashion of the Shadow Group while encountering love and discovering he is father to a three-year-old son, born in 1861.

Chato discovers that his childhood dreams of a mysteriously beautiful girl were no childhood fantasies. It was no accident that Bereniki, the young Princess of Chamaeleon, reached out to Chato, the powerful new Elder, in their infancy. They are predetermined lovers who bonded to one another while they lay in their mothers' wombs.

Chatos' destination is Paris, the city of love, wherein he plans to find the girl of his dreams. However, the Shadow Group has asked him to take a day or two to handle a little business in between his ardor quest.

So, Chato immobilizes a terrorist hijacking, performs a quick assassination in the typical nine-to-five fashion of the Shadow Group while encountering love and discovering he is father to a three-year-old son, born in 1861.

Fearing for her safety, she is placed under the protection of the FBI and enters a highly secretive youth program for gifted children where she will be nurtured as a future covert operative.

After graduating as valedictorian and with an approved FBI guardian, she enters the "unofficial" FBI apprentice program in Washington D.C. where she again excels. While at the Bureau, working on sophisticated computer program design and a "psychic" surveillance procedure, she earns the respect and admiration of the Assistant Director of the FBI who later recruits her into the CIA. But, because of compromises to her personal value structure, she loses heart and passion for the undercover life-style and enters the private sector at the end of her mandatory three-year commitment to federal service.

In Entreating Whispers, we see Tia hold true to her morals, her ideals, and her empathetic nature as she maneuvers her way through a world of adult deception and ruthlessness that has the full acceptance of the unwitting American public.

Fearing for her safety, she is placed under the protection of the FBI and enters a highly secretive youth program for gifted children where she will be nurtured as a future covert operative.

After graduating as valedictorian and with an approved FBI guardian, she enters the "unofficial" FBI apprentice program in Washington D.C. where she again excels. While at the Bureau, working on sophisticated computer program design and a "psychic" surveillance procedure, she earns the respect and admiration of the Assistant Director of the FBI who later recruits her into the CIA. But, because of compromises to her personal value structure, she loses heart and passion for the undercover life-style and enters the private sector at the end of her mandatory three-year commitment to federal service.

In Entreating Whispers, we see Tia hold true to her morals, her ideals, and her empathetic nature as she maneuvers her way through a world of adult deception and ruthlessness that has the full acceptance of the unwitting American public.

A slinky sixties attired girl swoops into the cove in an Austin Healey and scoops up the prized catch, makes a detour for her personal benefit, and delivers the chips to the team leader.

He and his accomplices reside in a stately home, and another of their number, being an accomplished pianist, gives recitals while the leader distributes the loot to selected guests.

Their friend a curative hypnotist sort of brainwashes the members, and each time an electrical storm strikes one falls down dead.

Then there is this inspector who is on to their game, and after a few wild goose chases is ready to pounce. By the time he does, the team is reduced to a frightened few.

A slinky sixties attired girl swoops into the cove in an Austin Healey and scoops up the prized catch, makes a detour for her personal benefit, and delivers the chips to the team leader.

He and his accomplices reside in a stately home, and another of their number, being an accomplished pianist, gives recitals while the leader distributes the loot to selected guests.

Their friend a curative hypnotist sort of brainwashes the members, and each time an electrical storm strikes one falls down dead.

Then there is this inspector who is on to their game, and after a few wild goose chases is ready to pounce. By the time he does, the team is reduced to a frightened few.

The CIRCLE is a fast-moving, action-packed story about a real, notorious gang of teenagers. They cared little about who they stomped, what vandalism they did, or whose car they swiped in their attempts to get back at the "codger" and "bags" of the community.

The inside details of the many jobs they pulled, how the kids behave toward each other, and what they really think of adults is plainly revealed.

Although the story is about teenagers and written for teenagers it is a gutsy book and not for the squeamish or chicken-hearted. The story will "turn off" most adults but it is MUST reading for those parents who refuse to understand their teenagers as a lesson in what can happen if their kids finally "tune them out". AUTHOR BIO: James A. Coleman is a retired college physics professor. However, he has spent a good deal of time as an unpaid street worker helping troubled youths, especially those who organized into street gangs. The CIRCLE is a fictionalised story of one of these gangs. Coleman is also a well-established author of science books for the layman.

Horn Book said , “Norman Finkelsteins’ careful reconstruction is a gripping story.”

Kirkus Reviews said, “A significant, sobering piece of the past, well worth pondering today.”

Listed in Books for the Teenage, New York Public Library and named a 1991 NCCS/CBS Notable Children’s Trade Book.

"Wallin's …story leap[s] from the mouths of his characters in an unusual show of craft. His ear for the Southern dialect is as sharp as anyone writing today.
—Chattanooga Times

"A well-written, sensitive novel."
—Voya

Emily, a precocious 16-year old girl who has a volunteer job at the local police station where her father is a detective, gets involved in the investigation. In the cruel atmosphere of a cat-and-mouse game, Emily tries to piece together a picture of the kidnappers and where they might be hiding. Before long, she is deeper involved than she ever thought possible.

Emily's Dad teaches her the psychology behind kidnapping and terrorism. During a series of phone conversations with the victim’s wife, the kidnapper reveals information that, by Emily’s interpretation, enables the police to identify who the kidnapper is. Yet, he remains elusive and everyone’s patience is tested to the limit.

The story intensifies when Emily has to make a life-or-death gamble during the chilling negotiation about the ransom, and it comes to a climax when she uses herself as bait to nab the kidnapper.

Besides the plot itself, the underlying theme is Emily's personal development and growing independence as she faces new challenges.

Emily, a precocious 16-year old girl who has a volunteer job at the local police station where her father is a detective, gets involved in the investigation. In the cruel atmosphere of a cat-and-mouse game, Emily tries to piece together a picture of the kidnappers and where they might be hiding. Before long, she is deeper involved than she ever thought possible.

Emily's Dad teaches her the psychology behind kidnapping and terrorism. During a series of phone conversations with the victim’s wife, the kidnapper reveals information that, by Emily’s interpretation, enables the police to identify who the kidnapper is. Yet, he remains elusive and everyone’s patience is tested to the limit.

The story intensifies when Emily has to make a life-or-death gamble during the chilling negotiation about the ransom, and it comes to a climax when she uses herself as bait to nab the kidnapper.

Besides the plot itself, the underlying theme is Emily's personal development and growing independence as she faces new challenges.

Emily's dad supplies her with information from the crime scene and from his conversations with people close to the case. Emily starts asking questions, digging up information, and making her own deductions. Despite her good work and convincing logic, her father rejects her conclusion when she tells him whom she believes the murderer is. Emily realizes that she needs actual, hard evidence to convince her father. By using her knowledge about computers and by collecting more background information that might support her theory, she stumbles over the needed evidence.

The story intensifies when the murderer realizes that he has been identified. Emily brings herself into a dangerous situation in search of the final proof and it comes to a climax when Emily uses herself as a bait to nap the murderer.

Besides the plot itself, the book describes Emily's development and growing independence when exposed to a challenge.