The River at Night is a story of a group of four women from Boston who take a river rafting trip in a remote part of Maine. The women are a long-time group of best friends who get together for adventurous outings together. On this trip, they will run into tragedy and terror.

The narrator is Winifred, called Win or Wini by her friends. She is a relatively introverted individual, compared to her friends. She likes city life and lacks wilderness skills. She is reluctant to go along on this trip, but is talked into it by her more extroverted friend, Pia.

Things go OK for the first part of their trip, with a few bumps along the way when Pia does something the other women become angry at her for. However, things take a tragic turn when they have an accident on the water and lose their guide. Left by themselves in the wilderness, with no map, no supplies, no wilderness skills, and no clue where they are, the women must come together in order to survive and make their way out.

They find seeming salvation when they stumble upon a woman and her son who are living a sort of hermit-like existence in a decrepit shack in the wilderness. The woman, Simone, and her 23-year-old son, Dean, have been living there since Dean was a child of five. Dean is mute and communicates using sign language, which Wini understands since she had a brother who was also mute. Wini is the only one who can understand what Simone tells Dean and she is terrified.

The rest of the story becomes a Deliverance-like tale of survival as the group tries to find a way back to civilization. Will the women make it out alive? Will they learn to cooperate for their own sake? What is the real story behind Dean and Simone?

I found this story to be incredibly suspenseful and quite a wild ride! You can imagine how you would react if you were suddenly thrown into a similar situation. How would you survive in an unfamiliar wilderness area with no equipment at all? Add in the challenge of locals who are anything but friendly and you have the makings of a scary tale!

The main character of Wini is well-developed ad has background information so the reader can see her perspective on these events. The secondary characters have less background, but the reader does get enough information to tell what their personalities are like and how they might react to the events. The main puzzle is Dean and his mother. How did they manage to hide out in the woods for so long and why did they do it? That’s a pretty interesting backstory too.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys outdoors action stories, thrillers, or adventure tales. It is very suspenseful and you will find yourself glued to the pages!

Wini needs a life change. She’s stuck in a dull routine, lonely, and scared of life. What could be a better cure than a thrilling white water rafting trip for their annual girls’ weekend? She is scared to death but is going to be brave and go anyway…after some serious badgering from her friends. Life has been a little rough on all four of them so a getaway seems just the ticket; if only things had gone as planned.
This was definitely an exciting ride and a page-turner even though it did not go as I expected it to! Ms. Ferencik’s descriptions of the Maine wilderness were great; I could not only picture it perfectly but I almost felt like I could smell and feel the woods myself.
Two things bothered me about this story. One, you were past 40% into the story before the action really started and two, I was looking for more depth in regards to the friendship dynamics. Relationships between women are complex and in stressful times can be even more so. I was hoping for more in depth talk about how the women and their relationships changed during and after this trauma.
This was a rather quick read and was rather entertaining although a bit odd at times, I enjoyed the ride!

The River at Night

About The River at Night:

Winifred Allen needs a vacation. 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.

Stifled by a soul-crushing job, devastated by the death of 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.

MY REVIEW:

Overall: I would rate this book between 3 stars and 4 stars. I didn’t hate it yet it was less than I was expecting.

The Good:

I found the The River at Night to be a slow-building enjoyable read. In the book four long-time friends embark on a white water rafting adventure that promises unforgettable thrills, none can imagine what awaits. Though the story slowly builds, once the action starts it holds your interest until the very end with some shocking turns that kept the momentum going.

The Bad:

The story really did not build fast enough in the first half of the book and I had to stay very committed to keep reading through that section. Also, I kept looking for ways that the events in the first half of the book would tie into the action packed second half of the book but found few. Though the second half of the book picks up on the action, still there could have been more plot twists in the second half. I found myself practically anticipating many of the events that took place.

The River at Night



Note: I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Erica Ferencik's debut thriller, "The River at Night" is a cross between a man vs. nature survival story and "Deliverance" with a little female friendship drama added to the mix.

Play-it-safe Wini is reluctant to join her three best friends on an adventurous girls' weekend whitewater rafting and camping in the northern Maine wilderness, but she finally lets herself be persuaded. It may just be the worst decision she's ever made, because the trip goes horrifically, unimaginably wrong, almost from the start. Wini and her friends will have to battle the ferocious river -- and more -- just to make it out of the woods alive.

I'm pretty tired of reading about kidnapped children and abusive husbands, and I enjoyed the freshness of a thriller in which Mother Nature is the main antagonist. Wini is the polar opposite of me -- she's from Boston and not at all comfortable in the outdoors, whereas I love the mountains and hiking is one of my favorite hobbies, but I did still like some of her insights into the power and wonder of nature:

"It was beautiful and frightening to see how nature didn't give two shits about houses, buildings, and bridges, that it would shrug us off the first chance it got. I opened the window a few inches. Afternoon blew in on a fresh, clean breeze -- full of chlorophyll and wood and cold mountain water -- it shocked me fully awake and almost made me high."

While the book is far from perfect, I found it to be a thoroughly entertaining page-turner with a refreshing plot. Check it out when you're in the mood for an intense thriller of a different stripe.

*I received a free advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewer's Note: I received a free galley of this book via NetGalley. Thank you to the author, Erica Ferencik, and her publisher, Gallery Books, for access to this book.

Erica Ferencik's The River at Night is a page-turner, one of those books that keeps you reading up half the night wanting to know exactly how it is going to end. Three women are convinced by their good friend to take an adventure camping-rafting trip in a remote part of the country where there is no cell phone service and few people live. All four women on the trip are feeling the trappings of being middle-aged, whether that means the emotional damage the years can rack up, the demands of parenthood, the stress and monotony of a 9-5pm job, and the disappointments of failed relationships and marriages.

A multi-day rafting trip promises an escape from these four women's hang-ups. There are many red-flags, but the women's need to withdraw from their quotidian lives prevents them from fully acknowledging them. Their young and handsome college-age river rafting guide dismisses them, reflecting his naivete and youth more than his knowledge of rafting and the river that will pose a threat to them.

The narrator, Win, is especially convincing. As someone who is also a middle-aged women, I could relate to her sadness and loneliness, as well as the frustrations of being an older woman in a youth-driven workplace and culture. She was relatable, authentic, and real. I didn't feel as though she was a character on paper; it felt as though she was truly someone who I could see befriending in my day-to-day life.

The first half of the book builds up to a crescendo where a devastating event occurs, one that will forever alter all of the characters' lives. The backdrop of the forest and its merciless nature helps drum up the suspense, as does the sometimes strained relationships of the four women. The women's inability to trust one another also lurks in the background, making the reader wonder if the true horror is not the natural world surrounding the women but rather the human beings who inhabit it.

The second half of the book has several plot twists, including some that let me down as a reader. However, the beautiful prose and well drawn characters made up for what the plotline lacked.

Overall, this book is a quick and exciting read that delves into the risks we take when our lives seem stale or at a standstill. I recommend this book for readers interested in suspense, female relationships, and the dangers of both the human and natural world.

This was a really thrilling read and by the time the book really got into the women’s survival journey I just couldn’t put it down. I read this in one sitting!

I really loved that this survival story focused on a group of women in their late 30s rather than a group of men and a group in their early 20s.The women had a 15 year friendship between them which meant they were able to work together but also knew each other moods and were able to easily deal with each other’s freak outs at, at times, hard works. Win is the main character and she definitely got a lot of development throughout. She was meek and scared at the start and I definitely felt she was a stronger, more confident woman by the end of the novel.

This book got quite dark and twisty at one point with the entry of two new character who I wasn’t expecting at all. It turned the book from a survival/adventure story into a thriller and it really had me on the edge of my seat.

I think this would make a great movie with some bad-ass older actresses rocking the roles and the wilderness!

I'm sorry. I did not finish this book. The characters and scenario were just not working for me, to the point that I couldn't force myself to read forward.

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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). 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 action was nail biting, so nail biting I actually considered putting the book down for good a couple times because I was freaking scared. The only thing I really didn't relate to was the characters, unfortunately. I just didn't really connect emotionally with the four MCs. Also, the ending kind of dwindled off. Other than that, I loved the action, the descriptions the fight for survival, the twists and turns.

Adventure
Adult
Looking for a scary read for a long winter’s evening? Sad from the recent loss of her brother and her marriage, timid Wini sets aside her many misgivings to join her three girlfriends in their annual week-long get-together led by the fearless Pia. This year, Pia has chosen a river rafting trip in the wilds of Maine. Along with emergency room nurse Rachel and teacher Sandra, the four women embark on a 30-mile rafting trip, led by handsome 20-year-old Rory, dreadlocked and muscled, with eyes “the exact green of an asparagus mousse” graphic designer Wini had featured in spring. He’s certainly irresistible to Pia, leading to a noisy hook-up that sets the friends squabbling. Over the course of the first day or two on the river, we learn Rachel is a recovered alcoholic and Sandra’s husband is violent. Wini is burdened by guilt over the possible suicide of her brother Marcus, who was deaf, and Pia is questioning the purpose of her apparently trouble-free life. But the river is a demanding beast that requires all the rafters to work together, and slowly Wini begins to find some enjoyment in the adventure. She likens it to that second glass of wine prior to the ill-advised third. Yup, Wini should have paid attention to her intuition – about a third of the way down the river disaster strikes, and the four friends find themselves soaking wet, hungry and thirsty, with no raft, supplies, or guide, and very different opinions on how to proceed. It’s a survival story at heart, and I think would have benefited from staying just that. Ferencik chooses to add another element of danger – think Deliverance. ‘Nuff said. The bloody horror show that closes the book detracts from what could have been a simpler and stronger story. While it’s ultimately Wini’s story, I would have liked greater character development for the others. There’s some terrific writing though, and while the stranger danger is way over the top, it’s still a riveting read, and worth enjoying as a wilderness adventure story. My thanks to publisher Gallery Press for the advance reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29430686

THE RIVER AT NIGHT by Erica Ferencik is a book of friendship and survival; it is also a psychological thriller. Four women who have been having Girls Trips for years are now middle-aged and all at very different places in their lives, the one constant is their affection for each other. They set out on an adventure they are ill-prepared for white water rafting in a very remote area of Maine with a young experienced, unpredictable guide.
The trip does not go as planned and the women find themselves stranded without their guide and their supplies. Thinking they have been saved when they see a camp fire in the distance they walk toward the smoke only to find they are walking into a nightmare.
This book hit all the right buttons for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the friendship the women possessed though they had their differences, the sense of adventure and the thriller aspects of this novel.

This book was given to me to read by NetGalley for my honest feedback.

The description of this book sounded intriguing. Four female friends, on a rafting adventure, become stranded and need to survive. I enjoyed the beginning of the book and the mid to end of the book, but I struggled to get through some parts. I believe it was because the characters in the book were very stereotypical, right down to the men they met in the store. I enjoyed the part about whom they met in the mountains, but the book became somewhat predictable.

It was an easy read, and I didn't love it or hate it. I would say it was a good vacation read.

Exciting read but a little unbelievable, which took away from the peril of the adventure.

This was a book that at times made me question the sanity of the characters in this story. Why would a group of 4 women close to their 40's go out on a white water rafting trip in the middle of nowhere with a 20 year old guy who has only been down that particular river 4 previous times??? This was a weird story. I am not to sure of the point besides maybe: Don't let your fear prevent you from doing things?

Eh, I thought it was written well and I did read it fairly quickly but it lacked sustenance for me.