Literary Titan Gold Award “…a full-throttle, urbex thriller that deftly manages plot, setting, and complex characterization.” — Rabbit Hole Reviews Urban explorer Lucas Tremaine should buckle down and complete his Masters in Architecture, but the past torments him. Six years earlier, Drax Enterprises’ negligence killed his father and left his mother strung out on Valium. Lucas longs to punish the … father and left his mother strung out on Valium. Lucas longs to punish the corrupt behemoth of Cincinnati real estate development, but what can one man do?
“Plenty,” says old Mr. Blumenfeld, Lucas’s boss and a former photojournalist with too many secrets. Evidence to bury Drax exists, he claims, but to find it, Lucas must breach the city’s welded-shut subway system. Lucas takes the plunge, aided by his best friend and moral compass, Reuben Klein.
The deeper the duo infiltrates the dangerous underground, the further back they turn the clock. They learn that Drax’s corruption intertwined with fascism’s rise in Germany. That campfire tales of a subway crypt were true. That no one can be trusted, not even Lucas’s boss.
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I bought this book for a couple of reasons: it sounded like a good thriller and it’s set in 1973 Cincinnati. I was born in Cincinnati, raised in the western side of the county, and lived in Cincinnati in the sixties, so I thought I would enjoy reading a story set there near the time period I was a resident. I wasn’t wrong.
The story involves a young man, Lucas Tremaine, who works for a photographer while pursuing his master’s in architecture. His mother works information at Cincinnati Bell and is gradually withdrawing from a dependence on benzodiazepines. She’d gotten hooked on them after her husband, Lucas’s father, was killed on a construction site operated by Drax Enterprises, a company that has its hooks set deep in the county political system. Lucas and his mother are sure that his father’s death was due to negligence on the company’s part, but before the story in Follow Me Down begins, they’ve lost a lawsuit. Drax’s attorneys fabricated stories alleging his father was drinking on the job (even though he didn’t drink).
Lucas escapes from his own depression by urban exploring with his friend, Reuben. They’re very good at getting into off-limits places, and one day the photographer, an elderly Jewish man named Alfred, approaches Lucas about getting into Cincinnati’s subway system that was started in the early 1920’s and abandoned during the Great Depression. He wants Lucas and Reuben to take measurements that a friend of his will use to prove that Drax, the subway’s builders, cut corners and bilked the city and county out of money. Alfred and a reporter he worked with had tried to prove that in the past, and they’d also tried to expose Drax’s support of the Third Reich during WWII. The reporter disappeared, and Alfred believes Drax had him killed. The ruthless CEO and his son, one of Lucas’s former high school classmates and a bully, will stop at nothing to prevent their empire from threat. And so the fun begins.
This is a story based partly on fact. The subway was started and abandoned, but there is no such company as Drax and no indication that anyone cut corners building it. In fact, much of the subway still exists today with its entrances either concreted in or gated over. But it makes for an enjoyable and exciting read whether you know the city or not.
Don’t go into caves and dark tunnels. Not f you want to continue living.
I’d never heard of urban exploration until this book. It’s a thriller and a mystery with an original plot and setting– the Cincinnati, Ohio abandoned subway. The characters are in their twenties and smart and likeable. Don’t want to describe more of the story but If you are looking for a different, fresh writer with original, new, story ideas, this should be your new debut author pick. Give it a chance.
Didn’t figure out “who done it” till the end.
Try this book. It’s not what I enjoy reading so I didn’t finish past first quarter.
unusua; setting
The storyline was interesting but the main protagonist became so irritating that it was a struggle to finish.
This is one of those rare “WOW” stories! Great characters complemented a completely believable story about Cincinnati, Ohio. This is a must read!!!
As a lover of urban spelunking, I enjoyed the story. Good characters and an interesting tale. More please!
Fascinating story, full of historical details! Who knew Cincinnati had an abandoned subway system? The writing is excellent, first time in a long time I found no spell-breaking typos or usage and grammar errors, thanks Gordon and proof-readers! This first-person narrative has you wondering where we’re going, but no tricks – it has a welcome integrity and relentless adventure.
Exceptional read, could hardly put it down. Great characters and believable interaction between them. Fast paced with surprises at every turn.