A high-stakes drama set against the harsh beauty of the Maine wilderness, charting the journey of four friends as they fight to survive the aftermath of a white water rafting accident, The River at Night is a nonstop and unforgettable thriller by a stunning new voice in fiction. Winifred Allen needs a vacation. Stifled by a soul-crushing job, devastated by the death of her beloved brother, and … her beloved brother, and lonely after the end of a fifteen-year marriage, Wini is feeling vulnerable. So when her three best friends insist on a high-octane getaway for their annual girls’ trip, she signs on, despite her misgivings.
What starts out as an invigorating hiking and rafting excursion in the remote Allagash Wilderness soon becomes an all-too-real nightmare: A freak accident leaves the women stranded, separating them from their raft and everything they need to survive. When night descends, a fire on the mountainside lures them to a ramshackle camp that appears to be their lifeline. But as Wini and her friends grasp the true intent of their supposed saviors, long buried secrets emerge and lifelong allegiances are put to the test. To survive, Wini must reach beyond the world she knows to harness an inner strength she never knew she possessed.
With intimately observed characters, visceral prose, and pacing as ruthless as the river itself, The River at Night is a dark exploration of creatures—both friend and foe—that you won’t soon forget.
An Oprah.com Page-Turning Novels Pick
A 2017 Indie Next Pick
A Bustle Most Anticipated Thriller Novel of 2017
An Entertainment Weekly “Must List” Pick
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When four middle-aged suburban women go on a white-water rafting trip in the Maine wilderness, you’d think that losing their guide would be the worst thing that could happen. You’d be so wrong! I couldn’t put this book down.
This will be a one day read because let me tell you the pace is fast and the story is oh my gosh. Four middle aged women take a vacation every year together. This year the “adventurous one” suggests a white water rafting adventure in the Allagash Wilderness which includes hiking to the drop-in point and a rafting trip for five days. I mention the age group because it really speaks to how the women view themselves before, during and after the trip. This book is a do not put down read for any age group especially if you have friends that you sometimes wonder why you are friends but love them anyway. The rafting trip takes place in the remote Allagash Wilderness where a simple trip turns into a life changing scary life and death adventure. I was riveted!
Sidenote: I took my first and most likely my last white water raft trip with my husband in Costa Rica. This was an experience that cannot ever be duplicated especially because I was then a middle aged woman that cannot swim. It was fantastic and yes, it changed me.
This was a very good book about women surviving in the worst physical conditions…but it’s not just the conditions that are threatening!
Four friends (Wini, Sandra, Rachel & Pia) venture on a white water rafting trip into the rarely travelled waters of the Allagash Wilderness. They set out filled with excitement and trepidation. Not long into the water they are met with disaster, and a freak accident leaves them stranded. No supplies. No change of clothes. No food. No raft.
It’s getting dark and they spot smoke and a small fire high up in the woods. Believing they are saved, they head towards the fire. Coming upon a small camp they meet Simone & Dean who promise help and return to civilization. Little do they know, Simone has other plans.
I really enjoyed this fast-paced thrill ride of a book. What should have been a once in a lifetime adventure turns into a survive-or-die situation. These women had to reach deep down and pull from places they never thought they had the strength to pull from…to stay alive.
The chapters easily flew by as I was engrossed in the story. I’ve been white water rafting before so it was easy for me to get lost in their adventure. I had nightmares before my trip of some of what these ladies sent through. Whew! Definitely recommend this one for a quick thrilling read.
The River at Night is a dark, twisting, unrelenting thriller that kept me frantically turning the pages well into the night. Erica Ferencik skillfully combines jolting plot twists, lyrical prose, and a beautifully brutal setting, cementing The River at Night as my favorite debut novel of the year.
Fantastic! A story that combines action-adventure with chilling horror, all wrapped up in gorgeous descriptions of nature and survival in the deep woods of Maine. I’ve been on a few camping trips, driven far north in Maine, and gone white water rafting (the very tame kind); this story brought memories back and really exploded with sensory details. Very cool. I tore right through this book in two days.
Full disclosure: the reason I picked this book up was that last year I went on a white water rafting trip gone wrong which was actually a bit traumatic. So, for good or for bad, I was constantly comparing this story to my experience. Thus, this book took me a while to get through but not because it wasn’t good. Even though I read an unedited ARC kindly provided by the publisher, the writing was clean (and beautiful). All that said, this was my experience with this book:
Erica has a very crisp way with her word use, short, poignant and to the point. The book was very description heavy, but that’s what I like in a book really. The tension built up very well even in her mundane descriptions, how she described the increasing remoteness of their location, the predatory looks and nature of the locals. Wini’s reticence and feeling of peer pressure when they’re about to head out on their trip.
The white water rafting action was nail biting, so nail biting I actually considered putting the book down for good a couple times because I was freaking scared. As I said, this probably had everything to do with my own experience and though I put the book down a couple times, I was still drawn back in because the experience was so real and I wanted to know what happened. I think Ericka’s incredible descriptions made the river trip and the hike very real feeling and that definitely added to the tension.
When their white water trip turns disastrous, and the women seek out the fire that they hope will lead them to rescue, during this section the tension was really high and I was definitely turning (digital) pages. And from that point forward, the descriptions and tension stayed so high that the book really pulls you through its rapids (lol, sorry so corny).
I loved the action, the descriptions, and the fight for survival. This book definitely had me on the edge of my seat and the twists and turns came unexpectedly which is always fun. And one more thing . . . at the risk of sounding shallow, sigh, just look at that cover for a minute. I don’t mind admitting it, I just liked the look of this book in my kindle library 🙂
*Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a review copy to read and review
When it comes to suspense, this book aced. It kept me gripped from start to finish. There may be similar stories about but this was well written and kept the stakes up with shocks along the way.
A Literary Page-Turner, with an Emphasis on the Page-turning Part
The River at Night by Erica Ferencik is first and foremost a thriller. It grabs you from the first few pages, and then takes you down the stream to its devastating conclusion.
Along the way you hit rocks – there are a few twists and turns here that you won’t expect.
But this is more than just a page-turner – Ferencik brings real literary value to each paragraph, and perhaps each sentence.
There is insight on every page
The plot makes you want to plow through, but the descriptions make you want to slow down. For example, when the protagonists are looking at the map of their destination –
> I placed our coffee cups on the map’s four tattered corners. Every part of it wanted to scroll up—keep the secret of where we were going—but under Pia’s hands the mountains rose up, the streams flowed and became real.
Or when one of the friends is described –
> She tended to marry well—divorce even better—but never seemed to truly settle into domestic peace.
Ferencik describes the protagonist’s past with her ex, and each sentence resonates –
> Fairly early on, I went from the one he loved to the one he’d married. I felt it at holiday parties, at art openings for his students, when his faculty meetings stretched into dinner, then later and later arrivals back home.
But make no mistake – this is also a thriller
Think Deliverance. Think the movie The Descent.
Four women, each with semi-established lives, come together on an ill-fated trip through the woods.
Bad things happen, and then they behave the way real people might. They argue, they go different ways. They act in their own self-interest, they form mini-alliances.
Yet you root for them throughout.
Just a great tale – I’d put this on par with The Silent Wife, The Ghost Notebooks and perhaps anything by Dan Chaon or Gillian Flynn.
Every sentence brings value, and every sentence pushes you down the stream.
An edge-of-your-seat ride with gorgeous writing.
I’m a bit conflicted on the book. It is a short and fun page turner. I have a bit of a guilty pleasure in outdoor survival stories so I enjoyed the read very much despite the books (imo) failures.
I’m not sure I’m at target reader since I don’t believe outdoor survival or horror was the main point. The author is much more focused on the characters and their perception of their world.
It is an entertaining story and the characters were interesting and developed enough to care about them. It’s very predictable and the author heavily depends on telling more than showing. That along with the segways of personal inspiration which I find cheesy and falsely dramatic makes the read very contrived.
Also if you know anything about camping or white water rafting be prepared to rant. The issues you find are purposeful – but they are over the top dumb to put the characters in the horrible situation they are in.
Overall if you want a book that is like the light version of The Decent (film) but in the woods and with personal growth and finding meaning in life insperational crap it’s pretty entertaining.
As other reviewers stated, this was a bit slow at first, but just from the title I knew that wouldn’t last long. Just get to know the characters in the beginning. Once it takes off, it doesn’t stop, I liked this one.
I really enjoyed this book, not knowing anything about it, I thought the thriller aspect would solely focus on their adventure rafting. Well boy was I in for a surprise! The sub-plot of the 4 friends and their bond waivered a bit for me and I would have like a longer epilogue. But overall was a great casual summe read
Keeps your interest in action packed unpredictable story line. An out of the box summer read! Fast easy read
I don’t know where to begin…I did not finish this book…in fact I didn’t get very far into it at all. The middle age angst and sighing was so silly and selfish–it drove me nuts! (I’m 71 and feel great, so I have trouble relating to a whiny 39 year old!) I don’t see how even one, much less 4 smart, successful professional women could get themselves into such a dangerous situation…it had to be evident to anyone with an IQ over room temperature that this wilderness adventure was run my untrained, unskilled and irresponsible people…yet they leap into a raft and go into the wilderness without having the survival skills to survive a walk in the woods!
Good story, but has made me a little paranoid. I will definitely be thinking long & hard before I’d go out in the deepest woods. Draws on the fear of every hiker…meeting a psycho when you are far from help. Action packed with great descriptions of rafting and other events. So much action you find it hard to stop turning the pages. Ended a little abruptly, but overall story was good. Easy read you can finish in a day.
This story had several elements in it that reminded me of the movie Deliverance. Four women decide to take an adventurous rafting trip together. Win, the main character, is apprehensive but doesn’t want left out. Beyond that, she is recently divorced, suffering through a tragic loss of a family member, and has little social life beyond her cat. Each of her 3 friends are also dealing with their own personal issues, ranging from recovering addiction to an abusive marriage. Each woman hopes that this trip will be a bit of relief from the struggles of daily life. Unfortunately, an unexpected event turns their vacation into a fight to save their lives.
I liked this story. It was one of those quick reads that probably won’t stay with me long though. I enjoyed how well the author did at portraying the remote area of Maine where they were rafting. She manages to give life to the land and water and make them forces to be reckoned with. Beyond that, I liked the feeling of apprehension surrounding Rory, the white water rafting tour guide. He’s young and he’s been in trouble but does that make him dangerous?
I struggled a bit with the chase part of the book (I don’t want to give any spoilers). It felt a little surreal to me. I will say that Ferencik was great at describing the scenes and surroundings and making me feel apprehensive at times.
All in all, not a bad read. I think the characters could have been drawn out a little more and that the story needed some additional depth but it’s a good story to read when you are looking for something quick and easy.
I couldn’t put it down.
Pretty good read. Moves along well, has some surprises. I liked the character development.
this was a very suspenseful story with diverse characters. Hooked
you from the beginning then once the story really got going it was
non-stop suspense. My very favorite type of book.