by Kate Alice Marshall
Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2018
Jess Cooper’s Dad left her when she was an infant. Her mom raised her until she was killed in a car accident when Jess was 16. After months of rehab and foster homes, the state finally tracked down her dad, Carl Green, and she is flown to live with him in Alaska.
Only he lied. He keeps a mailing address in Alaska but lives off the grid in the wilderness of Canada. Carl’s best friend Griff meets Jess at the airport in Anchorage; they then drive and fly for hours to join her dad and his dog, Bo. It’s summer, but summer is short.
Jess is miserable, disabled, lonely, and out of her element. She wants to leave. Her dad promises it’s just for one year. He’s teaching her how to survive the long winter. She watches him set traps, learns about berries and other flora. She hunts with bow and arrow, learns to avoid predators, and how to cook over an open fire. A plane arrives, and it’s not Griff.
It’s too good a story for me to give it away here, so I won’t. But Jess and Bo have to learn to survive on their own. The things this author puts her antagonist through would make you think she doesn’t like her very much. But she made Jess strong!
Marshall used an unusual format that added to the power of this novel. Told in first-person point-of-view, she alternated with the backstory BEFORE she was alone in the wilderness and her survival AFTER.
When the BEFORE catches up with the AFTER, her goal becomes less of survival and more of revenge.
The writing is fast-paced. The main character is challenged beyond all belief, in an entirely plausible way, making it hard to put down.
Marshall took us into the beautiful, unforgiving wilderness. She also took us into a frantic and violent underworld. They collide in masterful prose.
No comments:
Post a Comment