Paper Trail

by Barbara Snow Gilbert

A powerful story about a boy's confrontation with identity, trust, betrayal, and survival.

Genres: Young Adult

168 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2000

About the author

Barbara Snow Gilbert is an attorney, mediator, and an award-winning author. As a political science major with a minor in art history, Ms. Gilbert studied in Florence, London, and Washington, D.C., and graduated with a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Colorado College. She worked on various political staffs, including that of the Speaker of the House of the U.S. Representatives and the Governor of Oklahoma, then attended law school and received her Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the University of Texas.

Ms. Gilbert is married and has two daughters. She is a lifetime student of the piano, which she studied in the University of Michigan Division of Interlochen National Music Camp, and at Colorado College. She is fourth generation Oklahoman on both sides of her family tree, and proudly claims her heritage back to territorial days. Ms. Gilbert lives in Oklahoma City.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 15-year-old boy in Oklahoma hides from the Soldiers of God after witnessing the murder of his mother. Alternating chapters of survival story, clippings from actual articles and reports about antigovernment militias, and remembrances of growing up among the Soldiers of God, Gilbert tells a story that seems more frighteningly real than Gary Pausen's Hatchet books, or Cormier's After the First Death. It should appeal to fans of Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game, or Robb White's Deathwatch. I don't think I'd recommend it to many kids younger than 8th grade.

[Rick Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is about an OKC boy that sees his mom get killed by some people called "soldiers of God". They also killed his dog. His dad is an undercover FBI agent. He was supposed to tell the soldiers anything that was happening with the citizens. The three of them, as members of the Soldiers of God, have participated in weekend war games, gone to bible study, received training in wilderness survival skills, and participated in all the activities that are part of the life of their community. After his mother was killed his dad took him into the woods to hide and left him there to survive on his own. The dad went back to see what was going on. Walker Morgan (the 15 year old boy) had to survive on his own with no one to help him. As the boy fades in and out of consciousness in his hiding place inside a hollow log, the narrative takes a surreal turn, mixing in hallucinations and fragments of boyhood memories, alternating with excerpts from newspapers documenting real life paramilitary groups By the end, months after at least some of the Soldiers of God have been rounded up, he is just beginning to heal, and to forgive his dad for not telling them what was about to happen. We are left wondering whether Walker's crazy escape may have been the result of hallucination and trauma. The book was a good book if you really take time to sit down and read it. Readers will be hooked by the intensity of this nightmarish psychodrama. Also It is interesting and at time and the book will make you go back and read it and be like "What just happened?" it is full of action but if you are not a young adult or are into books you will not like to read the book. But I feel it shows a struggle. It shows how a young 15 year old boy from OKC survived without his parents and was strong enough to keep going after seeing his mother get killed right in front of him. If I had to rate the book out of five I would rate the book a three because there was not a lot of detail that unrolled the story but it was a good book and I would recommend it to others. Also I like how the story was unfolding other things. It would start saying something happened then would get deep bit by bit. The only thing I did not like about the story was how it was jumping around from one thing to another. I did not really understand the book but it was cool. I would give it a thumbs up.

[ak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book overall. A little confusing since a) it's written like Holes, with multiple parts all happening at once, except there are 3 instead of 2 and one is nonfiction, b) I had not and still have not (^_^*) read/researched anything on the non-fiction events and thus have absolutely no idea what they're talking about (which you know, really annoys me, particularly 'cause it's a fairly interesting subject and in the US and everything. even if I was under 5 years old while it was happening)

The middle of the storyline is a clear strong point- the beginning is kind of weak and the end happens way too fast. You really have to read the end twice, once to read it and once to actually get it.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The distinctive crack of a Sako TRG-21 sniper rifle shattered the glossy stillness of the April morning...
Silence. Worse than sounds...
He should look. Sometimes even Soldiers of God missed."
A hair-raising thriller of a boy caught up in the web of the Patriot movement of anti-government militias.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

His father was an undercover FBI agent who had to report the Soldier's of God, or lives would be lost. While fleeing with his family, the boy sees the murder of his mother, and his father has to leave him in the woods. The boy struggles to stay ahead of the soldiers and survive until his father's return.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not turn the pages fast enough in this book! It is exciting and takes unexpected turns. Whenever I do an impromptu book talk, this is one I pull if the student wants a mystery that is filled with suspense and surprise. Highly recommended!

[Jessica Parnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not a bok that i really liked. But if your a person who doesnt know where u are in life, cause you have some many obsticles.Then i would say this would be a book for you!

[Mary Clare]

Riveting

[Kendrick]

this is a great book and good for any reader

[Jose Escareno · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is about a 15 year old boy & his family that were being attacked by soldiers. The family is running through the wood and they split up, mos was running another way being the distraction. The boy then got hurt ad is laying in the woods nearly dead.
A 15 year old boy and soldiers. The 15 yr old got separated from his family after being ambushed by the soldiers.
There is nothing is nothing I could relate to in this story. Me and the 15 yr boy are nearly the same age.
So far it has been a good book because you think something is going to happen but another happens. My favorite part is when the family is being chased by the soldiers because i like the action. The thing I don't like is when he is having back flashes. The suspense is good. Introduced character in the beginning of the story
I don't know if I would recommend this book because I'm not completely done reading the book, but from what I have read I would recommend it. I would say different types of people would enjoy this book.