STORY SUMMARY
Two female hikers, who just graduated from Pentecost University in Georgia, are on the Appalachian Trail and almost to the end. They've been hiking for about 7 months which is typical for thru-hiking on the AT. They are now in Maine and almost to Katahdin, Maine's highest peak and the end of the trail if you begin in the south. However, as soon as they arrive in the Hundred Mile Wilderness, where the AT runs through, they disappear! They have been missing for several weeks.
Mike Bowditch, a Maine game warden, has been called in to join the desperate search team who are looking for them. They're real names are Samantha and Missy but their trail names are Baby Ruth and Naomi Walks. It is common for hikers to adopt trail names when hiking on the AT.
Hope quickly dissipates and despair takes over when two corpses are found. Their bones have been picked clean by coyotes. Are these bodies the ones of Samantha and Missy? Were they really killed by aggressive wild dogs that seem to be increasing in the Maine woods? Or is this the work of a serial killer (human) since other hikers have either mysteriously disappeared along the AT over the years, or have been found dead?
Maine is now gripped in fear that there are killer coyotes on the loose. But Mike has his doubts, as does his girlfriend Stacey Stevens who is a Maine Wildlife Biologist. She insists the scavengers are being wrongly blamed for the deaths of these 2 people. Stacey and Mike believe a murderer might be hiding in the "offbeat community" of hikers, hippies, and woodsmen at the edge of the Hundred Mile Wilderness. But then.....
Stacey disappears! And she disappears along the Appalachian Trail when out looking for clues. Now Mike's search becomes personal. Can he find the woman he loves before the most dangerous animal in the North Woods strikes again?
MY THOUGHTS
This was a fast-paced book with loads of drama and mystery and perfect setting descriptions.
I loved all the characters introduced in this story as well as the returning characters that appear in all of the books.
I loved that the person whom I though might be the killer turned out not to be and that the killer was actually someone I didn't suspect at all!
I found the ending a bit surprising because the plot seemed to be leading towards a certain character but then there was a twist towards the end that just felt a bit abrupt to me. But I think I rate this as one of my faves so far because it was about hikers and the physical environment/descriptions were spot on. I felt like I was in the north woods of Maine.
There were some good quotes in this story and here is one that jumped out at me:
"....it was hard to imagine that such evil could exist upon the earth, not unless you believed, like Brother John, that humanity had fallen from God's grace; that our mortality was the price we paid for our sinfulness, and the two were coiled up together, impossible to ever unravel." (pg 310, The Precipice by Paul Doiron, c. 2015)
Themes in this book appear to be homosexuality, homophobia, religious extremism, drug and alcohol abuse, murder, suspense, poverty.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
2 comments:
"Stacey disappears! And she disappears along the Appalachian Trail when out looking for clues."
Rule #1 when investigating a crime: Go out into the woods by yourself. 🤷🏻♀️
I was hoping they found the girls at the end.
Sounds like an interesting book. Thanks for the review.
Post a Comment