In Pam Withers’s eco-adventure novel Cave-In, 16-year-old Hudson Greer dreams of becoming world-famous for discovering a passageway between two cave systems, nicknamed the Castle and the Dungeon. He also plans to beat his ex-caving partner and ex-friend Mica Brown at finding that “door” first. But the cave-rich town of Tass, B.C., has bigger problems than trying to become a mecca for eco-tourists. Decades ago, a sinkhole opened up and swallowed an entire church – and its congregation. The next big sinkhole disaster is just a matter of time.

The clock is ticking down toward a catastrophe as the local logging business, Tass Tree Felling, goes about its business without proper inspections or safety regulations. The company’s vice-president, Mr. Toop, is more interested in a certain set of cave maps drawn by Hudson’s father than he is about the town, its citizens, or its impending plunge. Toop uses everything in his power to feed his corporate and personal greed, including his own teenage daughter. Fortunately for him, Hudson falls hard for Ana Toop, quite literally.

Withers takes readers on a superbly researched crawl through the underground world of the fictional town of Tass, which is based on Tahsis, B.C., and its nearby Upana caves. Descriptions of what Hudson and his new caving partner, Jett, discover while wriggling through tight tunnels and scaling steep ramps are fascinating, from sparkling stalagmites to spectacular chambers. Welcome are the warnings and safety rules about caving mentioned throughout the novel in the event readers are ready to jump right into a new hobby.

At times, the pacing suffers from intrusive textbook-sounding explanations of caving. There are also certain descriptions and images that don’t sound like the observations of a 16-year-old boy. These moments, however, are compensated for with vivid writing, surprising turns of events, ratcheting tension, and gruesome discoveries.

The novel does a commendable job conveying the issues around clear-cutting, how sinkholes work as well as the good, the bad, and the ugly of anti-corporate protests, even as it keeps the main character centred in his world of teen drama and angst. Overall, Cave-In should capture readers’ interest with an intriguing sport rarely written about, combined with themes of environmentalism, politics, first love, and second chances – no helmet or headlamp required.