THERE AND BACK by Eric Beetner / Z-View
THERE AND BACK by Eric Beetner
First sentence…
THE ROCK SLID from the hand and turned twice in the air, the edge serrated in a peak like a mountain range, blood filling the cracks and fissures.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Eight junior executives at a tech company are selected to attend a wilderness retreat. The trip is billed as a team building exercise. Not everyone believes it. There are four opportunities for promotion coming up. There are eight employees attending. Do the math.
The drive takes them six and a half hours into the wilderness. We’re talking remote. No cell reception. No other people. No roads once they’re in. Although there will be guides going along, no one could have foreseen the accident. And who would have guessed that the guides would be killed?
The eight are lost. Little water. Few supplies. They won’t be missed for days. They may not survive that long. As the hours pass, civility is gone. No one knows the right thing to do. Move on. Wait for help? Tension mounts as tempers rise.
Eight went in. Five came out. What happened to the three that didn’t make it? The survivors have a secret. And you know what they say about a secret… “Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.” Five, not three came back.
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I’m a huge fan of Eric Beetner’s novels. Each new novel is an automatic pick-up. Most of his stories are crime yarns. THERE AND BACK involves crime, but at it’s heart is the mystery of what happened and the survivors’ secret. THERE AND BACK is an ambitious work and Beetner pulls it off.
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