THE MOST TERRIFYING WEIGHT-LOSS PLAN EVER…
Dangerously obese Marty Clawson persuades her cheating husband to dump her in the woods where she hopes to be scared skinny.
But her fantasies about heroic outdoor survival flop as hard as her marriage. Dejected beyond measure, she takes a bus to Montana to visit an old high school suitor—someone she once suspected too sinister to pursue.
Turns out … too sinister to pursue.
Turns out her initial suspicions about him were spot-on. She soon finds herself in the exact predicament she’d so long imagined. Only now she must outwit a vast wilderness … and sheer evil.
Marty Clawson’s got a big problem: 264 pounds’ worth. Doc warns of dire consequences if something doesn’t change, but Marty’s already tried every diet on the market plus an endless list of her own concoctions. Still, she devises a NEW PLAN—and unlike the others—this one is terrifying: a rendezvous with the state park, a place she considers the very heart of darkness (and snack-free) where she won’t emerge again until she is thin. Hubby Raymond believes the method too dangerous—abandoning his super-sized wife like a broken dresser—and refuses to help with her scheme; his crap attitude, along with everything else, changes when she catches him in bed with an aging porn star.
Surviving the backwoods alone is challenging for a seasoned outdoorsman but unthinkable for a woman nearing red-alert obesity; yet, she believes it’s her last chance to avoid eating herself to death. Despite Ray’s newfound assistance, Marty fails at her plan. Desperate and depressed, she contacts Logan Myers, a peculiar boy from her past. Her hopelessness prompts her to accept his offer of bus fare north into the unforgiving Montana bush where he hunts and traps wild animals.
Logan soon reveals himself to be far worse than she remembered. So bad that he tosses her to the elements as punishment for rejecting him. In a wicked and ironic twist, her once farfetched idea morphs into an epic web of repetitious terrain and pure malevolence.
Now she needs to make it back to the Greyhound station before nightfall, without getting mauled by a random grizzly or discovered by a roaming psychopath determined to hunt her down.
THE CHASE IS ON.
★★★★★ What readers are saying about GORGE ★★★★★
“One of the best books I’ve ever read.” ~ Goodreads
“Hands down, the best survival book.” ~ Goodreads
“Never give 5 stars on books, because nothing is usually that great. Until now.” ~ Amazon
“Impossible to put down—a rollercoaster of thrills.” ~ Goodreads
“Frightening, bone-chilling and uplifting.” ~ Goodreads
“A book I will never forget.” ~ Goodreads
“Best I’ve read in a long time.” ~ Goodreads
“Remarkable tale.” ~ Goodreads
“Inspirational thriller … if I could give more stars, I would.” ~ Amazon
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Here’s an unusual one. How far would you go to lose weight, get yourself into better shape? For the protagonist of Gorge, the discontent that led to the weight gain that leads to further discontent now leads her straight into the heart of darkness where she will either face down her demons and survive or never climb out of the gorge–both figuratively and literally–again. A tense, hilarious deep dive into the human psyche that I found very difficult to put down.
I found this book on Kindle Unlimited and downloaded it last June. I then forgot about it, (my major problem with KU). I saw it and started reading last night, not remembering what it was about. It captured me from the start and I stayed up reading it overnight.
Marty is an overweight wife who has decided she needs to lose weight for her health. She has tried in the past so is very familiar with her failures. She comes up with a plan of losing weight by forcing herself to survive in the woods. She starts out reading a couple books about survival in the woods. I don’t think she was actually planning on this route. I think it was more of, “this is how desperate I have gotten.” I know the feeling and the pain. However she manages to convince her husband, Ray, of the plan. Once convinced, Ray then kind of pushed her into it but was there to rescue her. Things happen and Marty decides to visit an acquaintance from high school. And there things go very badly.
I sympathized with Marty. I know the low self esteem and the desire to change things. I know the weight struggle. I know the rut you can get into with a bad marriage. I found myself cheering for Marty and willing her to win. Her husband was a loser who learned, too late, what he had. There are, of course, others we meet in the book. Each plays a part in Marty’s life and her choices. I really liked Lou. The first part of the story revolves around food. I found this interesting as I don’t think about food or eat it the way Marty did. That felt more like assumptions people make about the obese, (there is a bit of that sprinkled in the story but I personally believe there is some truth to most assumptions just like with rumors. They may not be true for all, or even many. But just because something isn’t true for you doesn’t mean it can’t be true for someone else. It also made for a compelling story, in my opinion.) Yet, I still found some common ground from it. I also appreciate being inside Marty’s head. I think it was necessary to understand her personal change. The story picks up speed and becomes a page turner as we witness Marty’s transformation. I absolutely couldn’t put it down. This was definitely one of those books where you know you should be sleeping but you keep saying, “one more chapter, one more page,” and then find yourself at the end…in the wee hours of the morning.