Fast-paced, evocative, and intensely suspenseful, Tim Wynne-Jones’s latest psychological thriller finds a teenager setting his wits against the frigid wilderness and a menacing crew of escapees. Four months after his best friend, Dodge, disappeared near their families’ camp in a boat accident, Nate is still haunted by nightmares. He’d been planning to make the treacherous trek to the remote … the remote campsite with a friend – his first time in winter without his survival-savvy father. But when his friend gets grounded, Nate secretly decides to brave the trip solo in a journey that’s half pilgrimage, half desperate hope he will find his missing friend when no one else could. What he doesn’t expect to find is the door to the cabin flung open and the camp occupied by strangers: three men he’s horrified to realize have escaped from a maximum-security prison. Snowed in by a blizzard and with no cell signal, Nate is confronted with troubling memories of Dodge and a stunning family secret, and realizes that his survival now depends on his wits as much as his wilderness skills. As things spiral out of control, Nate finds himself dealing with questions even bigger than who gets to leave the camp alive.
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This book was a bit hard for me to connect with. I thought if Nate, the main character, was up against the elements as well as the fact that escaped convicts had taken over the family cabin, that the story would be suspenseful. But it wasn’t for me. Perhaps I didn’t feel enough empathy to really understand or for that matter, care about the protagonist.
I wasn’t all that impressed with Nate’s judgement from the beginning. Heading to a remote place by his self and allowing his folks to think a friend was going with him was concerning, to say the least.. Especially since this was his first trip to the cabin in the winter without his father.
The story goes back and forth between Nate’s relationship with his best friend, Dodge, who disappeared near the campsite while boating. And then the story goes back to the present trip to the cabin.
Nate works through memories of Dodge while trying to survive the storm and the convicts, who have escaped and moved into his family cabin.
To add to Nate’s situation, he discovers an unexpected surprise.
What Concerned Me
I had a very hard time relating to the characters. And I also felt some of the story was pretty unbelievable.
What I Liked Most
I’m always a sucker for a mystery. And at times this book kept me guessing.
I also liked the writing style. I’m looking forward to reading more books by this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to review this novel.
Nate and his friends Dodge and Paul had been planning to hike to Nate’s family’s cabin for almost a year. Dodge and Nate had met up that way as Dodge’s family had a cabin nearby. But then Dodge, Dodge’s brother, and father die in a horrific accident on the water, Nate starts to spiral, plagued with nightmares. With the help of some amazing parents, he starts to get better and think about the hike they had all been planning. He and Paul plan to do the hike by themselves, only Paul gets grounded and cancels the night before.
Against his better judgment, Nate decides to go alone. He feels that because Dodge’s body was never found, he could still be out there. While it is Spring, the brutal weather brought in by winter hang on tight in their part of Canada, still getting deep into the negatives at night. It’s a foolish decision for Nate to go alone, especially if his family’s camp isn’t how they left it when they closed it up in the Fall.
This was a really fun read because once the action started, it was non-stop. Nate was great at thinking on the fly and that’s due to his parents teaching him essential survival skills. Even Nate says that his father wasn’t the type to just answer questions, he would make Nate puzzle it out, and that proves very helpful for him. The Starlight Claim was well-written, and once I started reading, I found it near impossible to put down. Nicely done!