The world is not tame.

Release Date: March 3, 2020

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Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Price: $13.99 (hardcover)

Plot Summary:

The world is not tame. Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof.

So when she goes hiking in the Smokies with her friends for a night of partying, the falling dark and creaking trees are second nature to her. But people are not tame either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine.

Morning brings the realization that she’s alone—and far off-trail. Lost in undisturbed forest and with nothing but the clothes on her back, Ashley must figure out how to survive with the red streak of infection creeping up her leg.

Review:

You can always expect Mindy McGinnis to deliver gritty, wild narratives. Although with her new novel she literally places her protagonist Ashley, in the wild. After she drunkenly discovers her boyfriend cheating on her, she runs away from the scene of the crime, stumbles and somehow really damages one of her feet and consequently manages to get lost in the woods.

Now, Ashley isn’t your typical girl. She loves the outdoors, hiking, and camping and knows how to survive in the woods better than anyone else. However, nature and the elements play against her, not to mention having to deal with an infected foot. All these things make for her journey to freedom to be quite laborious.

This is a survival story that doesn’t hold back. You get everything from trying to deal with finding food and shelter, to stumbling upon a meth camper (I know, it’s crazy, but it wouldn’t be a McGinnis novel if crazy shit didn’t happen). And because it is a McGinnis novel, you know that the protagonist’s life can always be at stake or that she’ll come close to death. Basically, anything terrible that you can imagine happening? It’s going to happen but twentyfold.

McGinnis’ usual sharp, sparse prose helps create tension in the novel and creating anxiety that will have you rooting for Ashley but at the same time, you know how difficult her chances of survival truly are, especially when several days pass by with no signs of being found.

I recommend this book if you love survival stories with a side of sarcasm, grit, and gore.

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