DESCENT

Author:  Tim Johnston

Genre:  Thriller, Standalone

Published:  2015

Personal Rating:  3/5 (just okay)

Format/Narrator:  Audiobook/Xe Sands &
R.C. Bray

Yearly Count:  11

From NetGalley:

The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college. For eighteen-year-old Caitlin, the mountains loom as the ultimate test of her runner's heart, while her parents hope that so much beauty, so much grandeur, will somehow repair a damaged marriage. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic, as suddenly this family find themselves living the kind of nightmare they've only read about in headlines or seen on TV.

As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren't they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin's disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family's harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life?

I am really torn on how to rate this book because there were some things that impressed me and at the same time annoyed me beyond belief.  The actual writing had a special quality to it that I thoroughly enjoyed.  It made me feel like I was there; however, the writing style took me all over the place regarding timeline and who was speaking.  That drove me out of my mind!  I would give Johnston a try again, but only if I knew the story was told in sequential order and was grounded with one point of view.

Thoughts of Joy

My thanks go to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for providing me with the eGalley.