Michael C. Berg
Author of "Abandoned in the Maze"
This page was last updated: July 12, 2008
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For Front Street Reviews, November 29, 2006
Reviewer: Sabrina D.
If you are searching for a shocker to push the limits of your comfort zone, then look no further than Abandoned in the Maze by Michael Berg. Berg's unsettling story takes place in a future that is more suggestive of a parallel universe. In Berg's future, abortion has been outlawed and underground organizations operate under the surface of the law. The tables have been turned as pro-choice activists stage bombings and attacks on prominent pro-life advocates.
Seventeen-year-old Irene Cobb and her twelve-year-old sister, Rita, are forced to watch their mother being taken away in handcuffs for her association with an almost militant pro-choice organization. When Irene and Rita are driven away by indifferent "social workers," they have no idea that they are being taken to a prison of their own, a children's home known as the Trench. The Trench of Berg's imagination is a maximum security orphanage for victims of a corrupt political system. The sadistic overseers of the orphanage ensure that the few residents who manage to escape its realms do not do so with their innocence intact. Just when it appears the characters can't possibly suffer any further injustices, their wills are tested again and again by greedy captors hell-bent on their own elevation at the expense of the displaced children.
This book was my initial introduction to Michael Berg, and I will definitely be looking for more of his work. I read this sociological thriller in one sitting, eager to discover what surprises were waiting around the corner. It seems a bit of an exaggeration to call this novel a thriller, but Berg has such a talent for keeping the reader guessing and on the edge of their seat that labelling it as merely fiction seems to do it an injustice. Inspired by Berg's own experiences in the Florida child care system, Abandoned in the Maze is a roller coaster ride of emotion and controversy that looms dangerously close to reality.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2006
Reviewed by Kaye Trout
This fictional story is about a seventeen-year old girl, Irene, and her sister who were put into the custody of the state when their mother was arrested for working with a pro-choice abortion group. From the beginning to the end, there is nothing positive to be said about the system. The Trench Center was a corrupt state-run facility where the children were medicated because the system pays more for medicated than non-medicated kids. Irene never had a chance.
Although Abandoned in the Maze is presented as a fictional story, Michael Berg has drawn upon his extensive experience of fifteen years providing prevention, intervention and treatment services to adolescents with drug, gang and severe behavioral problems. He is currently employed as a Prevention Specialist assigned to an area of schools to oversee everything that encompasses school safety. Prior to working with the school board he was employed as a supervisor of a group home in charge of the well-being of ten adolescent children, and the novel is based upon his experience of working in group homes. Many of the incidences in this story have occurred throughout South Florida in other group homes and foster homes.
Michael is a good writer. The book is well-written and edited, and the story gives the reader some poignant insight into the problems within our systems. The author has presented this information in a realistic, touching manner, and I appreciate that he has taken the time and effort to bring the truth to the surface. You won’t be disappointed, and I highly recommend his book.
