Trapped

By John Osipowicz

TRAPPED-------------------Mystery Novel------------------103,451 words"Once upon a time, Chuang Chou dreamt that he was a butterfly, fluttering happily like a butterfly. He was conscious only of his happiness as a butterfly, unaware that he was Chuang Chou. Suddenly he awakened and there he was, veritably Chuang Chou himself. Now he does not know whether the butterfly is a dream of Chuang Chou or whether Chuang Chou is a dream of the butterfly."---------------philosopher Chuang-Tzu"When a man asks himself what is meant by action, he proves he isn't a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.---------------statesman Georges Clemenceau"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."---------------physicist Albert EinsteinTo get out of a trap, it has been known that an animal will chew its leg off. People dismiss this fact, saying well it's just an animal. However, animals are keenly intelligent creatures especially related to survival. So then why would this critter sacrifice a crucial appendage to get out of something that is binding it?A possible conclusion is that it must be horrible to be trapped. It goes against all living things' primal desire for freedom.When Rick Matson began high school he looked forward to the learning he had been enjoying plus continued chances to play the athletics he was good at. What he didn't expect was to meet a person who would severely limit his freedom.Travis Zaber began with physical harassments, knocking books out of Matson's hands, pushing him down stairs, and generally making his life miserable by spreading false rumors about him. In time Zaber involved Rick in his crime life, causing potential legal problems for the kid. However, graduation did occur with Rick feeling he was finally free of his nemesis. Little did he know that this was just the beginning of the cage that Zaber had locked him into?Rick became a teacher, and things were going smoothly until Zaber again entered his life, this time from a different source. A change of careers could have given Rick the freedom he wanted, but again the ever-present Zaber was there. And now we're talking about serious crime.Zaber always knew what made Rick vulnerable, which was his caring for his younger sister, Lori. The threat to Lori enabled Zaber to constantly control Rick. An eventual change to a career as a police detective gave Rick the hope that he could combat this predator.This story chronicles Rick's attempt to break out of the trap without chewing off his leg. This fight eventually takes him into the political arena, where the stakes now are very high for the entire nation.Rick learns that to conquer his enemy he has to be as cunning and possibly as vicious as that enemy. Will that kind of action cause him to lose both legs and become morally crippled, or can he win the battle without destroying himself and his loved ones?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1522040226
• ISBN13: 9781522040224
• Release Date: August 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 441 Pages
• Weight: 1.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.1" x 6.0"