Their motivations are convincing, however, especially when nature’s violence rekindles Jack’s memories of his mother’s accidental death years earlier. Jack and Wynn-who are both effortlessly erudite while also seemingly adept at virtually every skill of the outdoorsman-may be too well-rounded to be entirely believable. Short on supplies, racing against disaster toward civilization, Jack and Wynn’s loyalties to one another are repeatedly strained. Their trip is further complicated when the two men’s intervention in a domestic drama results in the addition of a deeply traumatized woman, Maia, to their traveling party. Their late summer canoe trip, however, finds them pursued by two dangerous natural foes-a rapidly advancing wildfire and the equally swift approach of freezing temperatures. The central friendship is between two young men, Wynn and Jack, students who have taken a leave of absence from Dartmouth to explore the Canadian wilderness. 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.Heller (Celine) explores human relationships buffeted by outside forces in his suspenseful latest. But: The next day a man appears on the river, paddling alone. 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 a wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the journey. 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. 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.

Wynn is a gentle giant, a Vermont kid never happier than when his feet are in the water.

It truly was terrifying and unutterably beautiful.'e ?Alison Borden, The Denver PostFrom 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 violenceWynn and Jack have been best friends since freshman orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. A Nominee for the 2020 Edgar Allan Poe AwardsNATIONAL BESTSELLER'e A fiery tour de force? I could not put this book down.

The river by heller