With the acrid smell of cordite in the air and about to be overrun by the advancing German Army in WWII, a physically challenged young man, not yet 16 years old, flees his small rural village in Russia. He carries only a knapsack containing two ancient Icons and other treasure—the entire wealth of the community. The book describes the commitment of a young man who leaves on a perilous journey of discovery obeying the wishes of his grandfather and the needs of his village. It covers the hardships he encounters leaving those he loves not knowing if he will ever see them again.
He is accompanied by a four-legged fellow traveler. They struggle across Siberia and the North Pacific to reach one of the most rugged and beautiful areas in North America. They are to end their perilous journey at a small Alaskan village on Lake Iliamna. Protecting the precious treasure, they will stay there until the war ends and they return home. But fate, waiting just around the corner, interrupts their journey. When the young man does not return home to his Russian Village, he is suspected of running off with the village's wealth. Only his father, his best friend and the girl, he has known and loved all his life, have faith in him and cling to the hope that he is still alive.
Seventeen years later, an engineer and a marine biologist, involved in a research project for the US Navy, make an interesting discovery while SCUBA diving in Lake Iliamna. The towed sonar they are testing picks up a ghost image of a sunken wreck. When they realize what the image might be, and that it could also lead to precious sunken treasure, they decide to investigate. The Russian Navy and the unleashed power of nature work against those efforts until the truth of what happened to the wreck, the sunken treasure, and the young man is finally uncovered. That truth may be found in the book's title: Roll Over Play Dead.
The author has written an adventure mystery that everyone in the family should enjoy. He spent almost his entire career in the high-technology field pioneering many areas. He draws upon his personal oceanographic experiences in Lake Iliamna—one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the United States. Those indigenous to the area talk in whispers about a mysterious large creature that lives in the lake. What better background for an adventure thriller.
