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Summary
Summary
Named one of Library Journal 's Best Books of 2017
"Exceptional first novel." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review
"Will grip suspense aficionados from the first page." -- Library Journal , starred review
"A skillfully written, gripping thriller." -- Booklist
"Action-packed with breakneck pacing." -- Foreword Reviews
When a day trip out of Las Vegas with his wife takes a turn for the worse, Jack is sure that he has the ability to get them home. But he drove into something far beyond reason.
Rescue comes in the form of a desert hermit, but hope fades as the couple comes to realize that the nomad has no intention of letting them leave. A chance encounter with a kidnapped runaway and her crazed abductor leads them all farther into the wilderness--and closer to the cold brutality that isolation brings.
At the edge of his sanity, Jack begins to learn that playing by another's rules may be the only way to survive.
In a voice that is as hypnotizing as a desert mirage, debut novelist Samuel Parker entices readers down a dangerous road, where the forces of good and evil are as crushing as the Mojave heat. This is suspense in its purest, most unfiltered form.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the prologue of Parker's exceptional first novel, a runaway named Molly, who claims to be 18, heads for trouble near Las Vegas, Nev. Meanwhile, Chicagoans Jack and Laura, a married couple, are enjoying a cheap vacation in Vegas. After a few days, they decide to take a break from the strip and explore the barren countryside outside the city, where their car stops running, despite still having gas, and both of their phones die. Stranded in the desert with a small and rapidly diminishing supply of food and water, the pair are near death before an eccentric recluse, who calls himself Boots, rescues them. Boots's intervention doesn't end their peril, and they're unsettled to learn that he seems to have supernatural abilities. Jack and Laura's story eventually intersects with Molly's with violent results, but Parker, unlike lesser suspense writers, succeeds in making the reader feel the tragedy of the victims' deaths. The strong execution of an original idea makes the prospect of his next book welcome. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
A bickering urban couple on vacation in Nevada get stranded out in the middle of the desert. It seems almost inevitable they will perish (though, for a time, it's a toss-up whether the heat and lack of water will get them, or whether they will tear each other's throat out). But, just when the situation seems hopeless, a man appears, a desert hermit who calls himself Boots. Just when we think we've got a handle on what's going on this looks like one of those stories in which someone is held captive by a loony loner new characters appear, and we realize the danger doesn't come from Boots but from an altogether more terrifying source. This is a skillfully written, gripping thriller, well supported by the author's fine eye for setting and ear for dialogue.--Pitt, David Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
While vacationing in Las Vegas, Peter and Laura, a Chicago couple in a crumbling marriage, decide to take a break from the hectic pace of the strip and go on a long drive through the Mojave Desert. Along the way, their car breaks down, and they are stranded in the wilderness. Eventually rescued by a desert nomad who seems very reluctant to let them leave his remote dwelling, they encounter the victim of a brutal crime, who is another guest of the nomad, and a demented, obsessed killer. What ensues is a dreadfully overwritten sort of Pilgrim's Progress allegory in which the forces of good and evil battle, sometimes supernaturally, for Peter's redemption. Narrator Dean Gallagher does a persuasive job enlivening the mixed bag of characters, using effective, if stereotypical, accents (think: Gabby Hayes as the nomad). Verdict There is an interesting (if not terribly original) idea behind this tale, but the excessively purple prose throughout is downright obnoxious. Not recommended. ["Will grip suspense aficionados from the first page. Fans of Irene Hannon and Dee Henderson who are looking for something a bit grittier will find plenty of it here": LJ 2/1/17 review of the Baker pb.]-Forrest Link, Coll. of New Jersey Lib., Ewing © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.