Outside, the wind is howling.
It is a monster shrieking to get inside. Outside, the rain is a solid wall of water. Everything is dark. Everything is destroyed. Everything is gone ...Everything except for the desperate courage of those who survive that terrifying night. After hours of cowering in the dark with no lights, no warmth, and the terrible noises of the rain and wind pounding on the walls, José walks out his front door and steps into
a nightmare.
But his nightmare has only begun as he and the few who are left in his small village start to pull their lives back together.
Based on Hurricane Mitch's devastation of Honduras in 1998.

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REVIEW EXCERPTS:
Thirteen-year-old José loves soccer, his family, and his small village in Honduras. In 1998, when Hurricane Mitch hits, his beloved dog runs off and his father, older brother, and sister are away from home. José struggles to remain strong for his younger brother and sisters and helps his mother deal with water pouring in through their roof. As soon as the rain and wind subside, he ventures out to discover that nearly every house in their close-knit community has been completely destroyed by a mudslide. With 33 of the 56 residents dead and his father, brother, and sister missing, the teen finds himself acting as man of the house and a leader in his ravaged village. Narrated by José, the story is tragic and suspenseful without being sensationalized. The boy’s inner struggle is well developed as he fights to do what must be done. Ultimately, he rises to the challenge, digging up dead bodies, finding food,
and seeking medical help for his sick younger brother. José is an admirable character, and his story moves along at a quick pace that will sustain the attention of even
reluctant readers.
~Melinda Piehler, Sawgrass Elementary School, Sunrise, FL

Set in a tiny village in Honduras, Trueman’s (Stuck in Neutral) novel is based on Hurricane Mitch and the devastation it wrought in 1998, and informed by the author’s experiences teaching in San Pedro Sula in 1981–1982. Trueman explains in an endnote that Mitch was the worst storm to hit the Caribbean in 200 years: as the 13-year-old narrator, José, experiences it, Mitch is cataclysmic. Striking while José’s father, older brother and sister are out on the road, the calamitous weather induces a mudslide that destroys all but two of the houses in the village and buries most of the residents. It falls to José to conquer his fear and be the man of the house. Trueman doesn't’t flinch from the grislier facts (in one scene, José leads a dig for groceries and finds the corpse of the grocer), but although he describes José’s thoughts and reactions he stints on the sensory details. Accordingly, readers will understand the impact of the storm, while the style and the almost miraculous happy ending may insulate them from feeling too much of it for themselves. An addendum links this novel (first published in a different form in the U. K. in 2003) with the events surrounding
Hurricane Katrina.
~ Publishers Weekly

When Hurricane Mitch hits the tiny Honduran pueblo of thirteen-year-old José Cruz, his Father, older brother, and older sister are making deliveries in the family's truck. José, his mother, and younger siblings huddle through the storm and power outage, trying to reassure themselves that Mr. Cruz will be home shortly and all will be well. Soon, though, the family awakens to a thunderous sound and a jolt to their house, and , and they discover their horror that a mudslide has covered all the village homes except their own and next and a next -door neighbor's. José is now called upon to be more than a comfort to his mother - he helps the surviving neighbors (over half the village has been killed) to recover bodies, dig canned goods and bottled water out from the wreckage of the local store, track down medical assistance, distribute food, and translate for the foreign relief workers who bring temporary aid. Trueman limns a convincing picture of a community under dire stress - those who put their shoulder to practical tasks, and those who are to numb to respond. While José contributions to the effort certainly qualify as heroic, the book limits his accomplishments to those a young teen could realistically master. There's a joyful reunion for the Cruz family, but it's clear that the fate of the leveled pueblo is in doubt, and the memory of destruction, death, and disease will haunt the Cruzes - and readers - for time to come.
~ The Bulletin of the center for Children's Books. EB

When a storm unlike any other - 1998's Hurricane Mitch - hits Honduras, the world of 13-year-old José and his family is forever changed. Only two houses are left standing in their small village after the hurricane, and mudslide has buried many of the residents. José's father, older brother and sister are away, and José must act as the man of the house, coming to the aid of whomever he can and digging for canned goods in the mud so they can all survive. When his little brother falls ill, José must go for help, despite the dangers he faces. This is a simple but powerful story, with appeal to adventure fans as well as reluctant readers. Trueman, author of Stuck in Neutral and other YA novels has taught in Honduras. At the end of the novel he provides some statistics on the deadly impact of Mitch, the worst storm to hit the Caribbean in 200 years and points out that people in the US experienced something like what José went through when Hurricane Katrina hit. An engrossing and sobering tale.
~ Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT