Nail biting suspense as you try to figure out who wants to harm Tristian. Will anyone make it out alive?! Nice action packed thriller

My only complaint is this book is too short. I held my breath from page 1 right until the end. It turned out to be a hidden gem, I wish more people would read it!

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book, as I couldn't get into it - nothing against the author or book, just not to my personal taste. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

A sure fire buy for my fans of Gary Paulsen with a twist of mystery.

Tracker's Canyon is nail biting from the start. From the beginning the reader is kept in suspense and wondering who it is who wants to harm Tristan. All the characters are suspect and every situation is viewed woth suspicion.

It is a white knuckle ride as the group descends into the canyon, and the reader is left wondering if anybody will make it out alive.

Highly recommended to everyone who loves a fast paced action thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with this ARC to read and review.

Tristan Gordon’s father has been missing since he went canyoneering alone. However, could he have been in the canyon with the woman whose body was discovered days later in the same stretch of river where the search party thought they should have found him?

Tristan is determined to discover what happened on that ill-fated trip that his dad, seemingly took alone. When he’s invited to join Brigit Dowling, the daughter of the woman who drowned, he feels he must take the chance to see if he can find out what happened to his father, someone who was very experienced in the sport. Little does he realise that he might be the canyon’s next victim.

An interesting storyline with Tristan using all the training his father had taught him from a very young age. Unfortunately, Tristan was the only character with whom I felt a connection.

Pam Withers certainly did her research on canyoneering. In fact, she has managed to convince me that if I were younger, fitter and still wanting an adrenaline rush, I’d be taking up this sport.

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Tracker’s Canyon was a great adventure story for many students. The book is well written and keeps the reader’s attention as the stakes become higher for Tristan. The book is based on a sport called canyoneering; something I have never heard about.

Tristan is 16 years old. His father who disappeared in Swallow’s Canyon was never found and presumed dead. His mother is a mess, his uncle tries to help, but things just seem to keep getting worse. Tristan’s father taught him all about tracking and canyoneering, but taking care of his mother and no money meant he was trapped at home. When an opportunity comes up to go into Swallow’s Canyon, he jumps on it. Not everything is what it seems and Tristan needs to use all of his skills to survive and find out what happened with his father.

Tracker’s Canyon is an excellent adventure story and a great read!

Tristan Gordon did everything with his dad -- hiking, climbing, swimming, tracking -- just about any outdoor adventuring activity they mastered and loved. But, one day eight months ago, his father disappeared in Swallow Canyon. Searches were conducted but no body was ever discovered. The insurance company won't pay out without proof of his father's death, and Tristan's mother sinks deeper and deeper into depression and mental illness. Depending on the generosity of an uncle to keep them afloat, Tristan juggles school and trying to help his mother. He resents the presence of their new age obsessed housekeeper, who also is the caregiver for his mother while he's at school. He wishes the money his uncle spends on her salary could be used for groceries and more important things than the weird spiritual mumbo-jumbo she uses to calm his mother.

Tristan feels called to track his father in Swallow Canyon to find out what happened. But he knows that just the mention of him going climbing into a canyon will be enough to tip his mother over the edge.

After months of avoiding canyoneering, Tristan gets invited on a trip down into the upper portion of Swallow Canyon. The group is being led by a 19 year old girl, the new guide for a local adventuring company. He enjoys his day out, but wonders why he was invited on the trip.

The housekeeper, Elspeth, keeps telling him that he needs to go down into the canyon and retrieve something, anything that belonged to his father. She says a token from his dad is all it will take to bring his mom out of the fog and back into living. As they run out of money and other options, Tristan realizes that he needs to venture into Swallow Canyon to find answers about what happened to his father. But what will he find? And will it really help his mom?

This book is a quick, exciting read! Perfect for middle-grade to adult readers. There is a little bit of language, but nothing that bad. Nothing any teenager wouldn't say in the same situation. The adventuring, canyoneering theme is really interesting and suspenseful. The plot also delves into the confusion and life-altering effects of mental illness, grief and loss. Tristan is just a kid, but he's dealing with so much trying to keep his mother going while worrying about buying groceries and keeping their family going. It's an adventure story and a coming of age tale.

A lovely book! I got pulled into the story quickly and didn't want to stop reading! The story is well written, moves along at a perfect pace and has enough suspense to hold a reader's interest.

Great book for kids and adults alike (I'm nearly 50 years old and I loved the story!), especially those who like the outdoors and adventuring! It really made me want to put on my hiking books and hit the trails here in western NC!

Pam Withers has written 18 adventuring books for young readers. She lives in Vancouver. For more information on the author and her other books, check out her website: http://www.pamwithers.com/pw/

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Dundurn Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

This book took a long time to get rolling and though it is only a short book, it still felt long because of the pacing. However, I loved the style of the writing and the suspenseful style!

(I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.)

Tristan, a young tracker and outdoor adventurer, has been running the house since his father disappeared and his mother spiraled into a deep depression. When he gets an opportunity to go on a trip to the most difficult part of the canyon, he hopes to find definitive proof that his father is dead and his mother can finally move on in her grief. However, the trip proves to be more dangerous than Tristan ever imagined, and it’s not just nature that’s out to get him.

This is an exciting book with a fast-paced plot and excellent description that will keep even reluctant readers hooked. I really enjoyed being looped into the new sport of “canyoneering”, and I felt that the author explained what we needed to know without being overbearing, for the most part. [she does stop the Boss Battle to explain a canyoneering term, but OTHER THAN THAT it was fine]

However, at about 65%, this book took a turn that I cannot support and thus I cannot recommend it for any middle school or high school teachers. <spoiler>Tristan’s guide, Brigit, turns out to be mentally unstable and murderous. With that revelation, our only three female characters are: 1) Tristan’s grief-stricken and pill-popping mother, 2) her hippie/psychic caretaker, and 3) Brigit. I want the boys in my class to have a more realistic range of female characters in their fiction.</spoiler>

Too bad.

This was a pretty interesting book--different from what I usually read. As an action/adventure mystery, it held my attention and had a solid enough plot. I thought the resolution unfolded a little quickly after the climax. I learned a lot about canyoneering, which was half the reason that I wanted to read it in the first place.

I read Tracker's Canyon as a publisher's ARC.
A great book for YA readers — tension crackles on every page, Excitement builds throughout. Characters are well defined. Plot twists and turns. And, in the end, the hero solves the puzzle and survives.
Recommended.

Lovely book . So many different sub plots to keep the reader engaged. Author has done a lot of research into the sport in the book and it helps the story flow. It does have an interesting twist in the end but it is totally realistic.
A glossary of unusual words would be useful. I don't know how many children would use a dictionary anymore, I think it's a dying art!

Thanks to NetGalley I came across a Summer Vacation in a book. Sixteen-year-old Tristan takes you along for an adventure packed full of suspense, mystery, and the beauty and danger of nature. Nature may not be the only thing Tristan has to be survive while trying to find out what happened to his father. Tristan’s father goes missing while on a Canyoneering trip. Life is closing in on Tristan as he tries to help his mother deal with her grief so he puts to use all of the tracking, climbing, rappelling, swimming, and survival skills his father has taught him to escape his grief. Instead of hunting for clues about his father, he has become the hunted.

Did not finish. I could not get into this book at all. The writing was boring and I found the plot lacking. I would have liked to have enjoyed this book. It seemed interesting going by the summary. I tried to give this book to at least halfway through but couldnt.

I’m not the age group for this novel I suppose but it reminded me of the novels I used to read as a young girl wanting to be in the cubs instead of the brownies. Adventure trails, getting lost in the woods and finding your way home, pretending your toy walkie talkie is the real deal...

Even as an adult, this novel reminded me of my time trekking through the grand Canyon - the boats I wore, the hat, the sense of adventure...yup this novel had this and more and I can see a definite appeal for the YA market or for people like me who love a good adventure novel, getting lost in the wilderness kind of place.

The story of young Tristan going in search of his father was quite heartwarming and it opens up a lot for people both kids and adults to think about in terms of grief and loss - I would be keen to read another of Pam’s books. Best get those hiking boots at the ready!

The book is told from 16 year old Tristan's point of view and the first half of the book introduces us to what is going on in his life and what happened to his father. We also meet his mother, who is still very grief stricken even after so many months and his uncle. The second half of the book follows Tristan as he heads back out to Swallow Canyon in an attempt to figure out what happened to his father, using the tracking and climbing skills he has acquired. The first half of the book was a bit slow for me, but I really enjoyed the second half. I really enjoy wilderness survival type books and I have to say I have to found many of them in the fiction genre. Without giving away any spoilers, Tristan does find out what happened to his father towards the end of the book. This was a quick read and I really enjoyed the action filled adventuring into the wilderness in the second half of the book. Although a bit slow in the beginning, the plot moves along pretty quickly after that and the author provides with a lot of detail in the second half as Tristan is hiking and climbing through the canyon. Overall, it was fun and easy read.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC.

Thanks to his dad’s coaching, sixteen-year-old Tristan is one of the best climbers and trackers in his community. This talent comes in handy after his father disappears, leaving Tristan alone with his struggling mother and with no other choice but to go try to find him. Or at least find out what happened to him. Unfortunately he's not the only one out there looking for someone or something. In a harrowing situation where he doesn't know who he can trust, can Tristan avoid the danger and find what he's looking for before time runs out?

This was a great book that would appeal to middle school aged children up to adults. It was a great story with great characters and lots of adventure.