The River

by Peter Heller
Category: "Fiction - Adventure"
Pages:253
Year of Publication:2019
Date Added:01/05/2020
Date Read:01/04/2020
Notes:College friends Jack and Wynn take a canoe trip through remote Canadian wilderness. They are alone except for two drunks camping on a sand spit. They discover that a huge forest fire is headed their way. One day, in heave fog, they hear a man and woman screaming. Later, at a portage, the man shows up and says his wife is missing. Jack and Wynn go looking for her—even though Jack suspects the man killed her. They find her gravely injured a manage to keep her alive. They head down the river to civilization but have to keep watching for the husband whom they suspect will try to shoot them. The fire catches up to them, but they manage to survive by getting in the water behind their canoe. At their next camp, the two drunks catch up with them. One tries to rape the injured woman. Jack beats him and urges the woman and Wynn to get in the drunks' canoe,which has a motor. One of the drunks shoots Wynn, who dies. Jack takes the woman to the town, finding her husband dead, killed by the drunks, on the way. The woman lives. Jack goes to Wynn's house and tells his family what happened.
My Rating: 5

Reviews for The River

Review - River, The

It kept me reading, but there were too many plot holes for me to really enjoy it. First, you can be in danger from forest fires, or from polar bears, but not from both in the same place. Second, warblers don't sing in the fall. Third, why not get under the canoe to save yourself from the fire. Fourth, why set off one day in a desperate attempt to beat the fire and then, at a midday portage, decide to lay on a rock and enjoy the afternoon sun the rest of the day. Fifth, When you beat up the guy trying to rape the woman, why leave his rifle there for him to pick up and shoot you with.

Reviewed by Roger on 2020-01-05 16:41:41

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