The Mountain Between Us

This is not my typical sort of story. I like adventure and survival tales, but all too often it's filled with gruesome details that turn my stomach. This book somehow manages to be incredibly real and detailed without becoming gruesome, which is a testimony to the author's delightful command of the English language. It is evident that the author did his research about every facet of the book's subject matter, giving it an authenticity that makes it read like truth.

Dr. Ben Payne, orthopedic surgeon, has been in Colorado for a medical conference and took the chance to go hiking for a few days—”I take long runs on the beach and climb mountains when I can get to them.” Now he's en route back home and gets stranded by weather in Salt Lake City. But weather is moving in, and his flight is cancelled. With patients waiting back home, he is desperate to get back...and hires a private pilot to take him out before the storm breaks. He invites a young journalist, hours away from her wedding, to go with him; if he hadn't, she would have missed her wedding.

Well, she misses it anyway. The pilot suffers a heart attack over a national forest and barely manages to make a crash landing after his heart has stopped. And Ben and Ashley are stranded and hurt with a snowstorm on their heels and the pilot's small dog for company. Ben is able to use his hiking gear to survive the trauma and cold, but food is an instant problem.

It was difficult to lay the book aside. The details are incredible; in many ways heart-wrenching. Ben's guilt over the past has trapped him in it, keeping him from moving on emotionally. Ashley is more broken physically but more whole emotionally. It's a classic survival tale, with an added deep exploration of the true meanings of love and relationships. Every word counts in the grand scheme of the book, so it must be read carefully to catch all the flavors and nuances.

I'll definitely be reading more by this author.