From the New York Times bestselling author of Five Total Strangers and Seven Dirty Secrets, a tense new thriller!Four days alone in the desert. Except they're not as alone as they think.A year ago,...
From the New York Times bestselling author of Five Total Strangers and Seven Dirty Secrets, a tense new thriller!Four days alone in the desert. Except they're not as alone as they think.A year ago,...
Due to publisher restrictions, your digital library cannot purchase additional copies of this title. We apologize if there is a long holds list. You may want to see if other editions of this title are available from your digital library instead.
Due to publisher restrictions, your digital library cannot purchase additional copies of this title. We apologize if there is a long holds list. You may want to see if other editions of this title are available from your digital library instead.
Description-
From the New York Times bestselling author of Five Total Strangers and Seven Dirty Secrets, a tense new thriller!
Four days alone in the desert. Except they're not as alone as they think.
A year ago, Katie and her cousin Aster survived a night that left their world and easy friendship fractured. Desperate to heal and leave the past behind them, they tackle four days of hiking in the Utah backcountry. But the desert they've loved for years has tricks up its sleeve.
An illness, an injury, and a freak storm leave them short on confidence and supplies. When they come across a young couple with extra supplies on the trail, they're grateful and relieved—at first. Riley exudes friendliness, but everything about her boyfriend Finn spells trouble. That night, after some chilling admissions about Finn from Riley, Katie and Aster wake to hear the couple fighting. Helpless and trapped in the darkness, they witness Riley's desperate race into the night, with Finn chasing after.
In the morning, they find the couple's camp, but Riley and Finn? Vanished. Katie is sure Riley is in trouble. And with help a two-day hike away, they know they are the only ones who can save her before something terrible happens. The clock is ticking and their supplies are dwindling, but Katie and Aster know they have to find Riley before Finn—or the desert—gets to her first.
About the Author-
Natalie D. Richards writes books that will keep you up way past your bedtime. She lives with her family in Columbus, Ohio and when she's not writing or reading, you can probably find her wrangling Wookiee, her enormous dustmop of a dog. Visit her on Twitter @natdrichards or at nataliedrichards.com.
Reviews-
May 1, 2024 The Utah wilderness offers cousins Katie and Aster an awe-inspiring setting in which to heal--and maybe even save another person's life. Bestselling author Richards' latest is told in chapters that alternate points of view between the two main characters, as well as a mysterious, unnamed third voice. The novel opens on a night that changes everything for the two girls. Then the action jumps ahead 11 months, as Aster and Katie, who share a love of hiking, are dropped off for a 49-mile, multiday backpacking trip in Utah during which trauma, healing, and a growing, menacing mystery unfold. Wilderness thrills move the story along, although the number of challenges the girls face does begin to beggar belief: scorpions, prickly pear thorns, illness, flooding, a rattlesnake, losing the trail, running low on food and water, encountering sinister people, and experiencing a terrifying accident. The writing evokes a powerful sense of place in the descriptions of the canyons and in the information on outdoor preparedness and safety. But the novel's real strength lies in the thoughts and conversations the cousins share around being a survivor of trauma as well as the complexities of navigating a relationship with a survivor. They heal while they traverse an unforgiving environment that demands all their wits to survive as the novel comes to a heart-pounding conclusion. Most characters are coded white. A gripping story of strength in the face of unrelenting challenges. (Thriller. 14-18)
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
May 1, 2024 Grades 10-12 Cousins Aster and Katie have been hiking buddies since they learned how to walk. Every summer, they hike a trail in Utah--usually a four-day trip in scalding heat. Now, recently graduated, they're embarking on what may be their last trip together, and they're not as close as they used to be; Katie was raped at a party last year, and Aster blames herself, while Katie pretends to be OK. While trying to fix their relationship, they will have to fight bad weather, sickness, and various potentially dangerous animals like scorpions. Worse, they may need to fight something human and definitely dangerous. When a couple they meet on the trail disappears overnight, neither Aster nor Katie knows what to do next. Alternating perspectives between the cousins fill this story out with good detail, while the occasional interstitial cranks up the tension. Genre vet Richards is no stranger to chilling and suspenseful stories, and this survival thriller earns a spot on the shelf with some of her standouts (One Was Lost, 2016; Four Found Dead, 2023).
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
May 6, 2024 Two teens attempt to move on from the aftermath of sexual violence in this suspenseful novel by Richards (Four Found Dead). While attending a college party in Columbus, Ohio, 19-year-old Aster leaves without her 18-year-old cousin Katie. The next morning, Aster learns that Katie has been raped. Eleven months later, the two meet up in Utah to embark on a four-and-a-half-day hike through the desert. Neither girl has been the same since the party, and both hope that the trek will help repair their fractured relationship. Soon after they begin, Aster injures herself on a cactus. Further misfortunes follow, including a rain-and-hail deluge, a confrontation with scorpions and a rattlesnake, and Aster falling ill. Still, the teens trek on until a pair of hikers with disturbing auras appear, prompting Aster and Katie to flee. Just when it seems things couldn’t get worse for the cousins, they do, yet Aster and Katie prove to be a capable and admirable team. These intrepid heroines inspire hope that this foreboding thriller—boasting unrelenting suspense and unremitting pressures—will end in survival. Most characters are white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary.
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