“If you spend a lot of time in the mountains, you need to be prepared.”
The Hike, Lucy Clarke
There are a lot of things that can go wrong when one inexperienced person decides to go on a 4 day hike. There’s even more things that can go wrong when FOUR people decide to go on a 4 day hike together. And this is how we find our main characters, 4 women in their thirties and lifelong friends, ready to break away from their traditional beach vacations. There’s Liz the organizer, Maggie the single mom, Helena the girlboss, and Joni the rockstar. Each woman has their own doubts about the trip, but they forge ahead into the Norwegian wilderness together.
This book flew by for me. The first half focuses more on the dynamics of their friend group, while the second half focuses on the perils of survival. The introductions for each of the 4 women took a lot of time upfront, but that character-building paid off as the point of view switched between women as the story progressed. In addition to the well-written main characters, the town and its residents create a feeling of isolation that adds to the growing intensity. There are several twists as the story progresses, and most of them keep the pace moving forward at a climbing rate. However, as the story reached its climax, the final reveals began to seem over the top and exaggerated. The heightened peril led to an ending that felt a little cheap in its emotional payoff.
Ready for my full review (with spoilers)? Continue reading here!
Overall, this book was a blast to read. It’s an adventure book more than any other category and kept me fully invested to the end. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and thrilling read.
Read with Fern 
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