The River: A novel (Unabridged)
-
- $12.99
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
A Nominee for the 2020 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"A fiery tour de force… I could not put this book down. It truly was terrifying and unutterably beautiful." –Alison Borden, The Denver Post
From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars, the story of two college students on a wilderness canoe trip--a gripping tale of a friendship tested by fire, white water, and violence
Wynn and Jack have been best friends since freshman orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. Wynn is a gentle giant, a Vermont kid never happier than when his feet are in the water. Jack is more rugged, raised on a ranch in Colorado where sleeping under the stars and cooking on a fire came as naturally to him as breathing. When they decide to canoe the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate long days of leisurely paddling and picking blueberries, and nights of stargazing and reading paperback Westerns. But a wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the journey. When they hear a man and woman arguing on the fog-shrouded riverbank and decide to warn them about the fire, their search for the pair turns up nothing and no one. But: The next day a man appears on the river, paddling alone. Is this the man they heard? And, if he is, where is the woman? From this charged beginning, master storyteller Peter Heller unspools a headlong, heart-pounding story of desperate wilderness survival.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Two college friends take a trip to get away from it all—and wind up in a fight for their lives. Peter Heller’s slow-burning thriller follows Jack and Wynn as they travel to the white-water rapids of northern Canada to indulge their shared love of adventure. It turns out Mother Nature is in no mood to play nice, and neither, apparently, are the other humans they encounter along their journey. Heller’s economical prose—which recalls the writing in Ernest Hemingway’s and Jack London’s man-against-nature sagas—makes The River both suspenseful and tender, and Mark Deakins’ masterful narration does justice to the vibrant descriptions and terse dialogue. You won’t want to stop listening to this stark story of a friendship driven to the brink.
Customer Reviews
Mixed thoughts
Some of the book was very descriptive and you felt like you were in the wilderness with them. Then at times it seemed like the author didn’t know where to go with the story and get side tracked and it is easy to lose attention with the story.
Cool setting, boring book
Not enough happens, boring characters, wanted to like this book but I can’t. Sorry, not sorry.