This book was ultimately just okay. The relationship between the two main characters just bewildered me. They had very little time on page together, almost no dialogue interaction that wasn't about their exes or their kids, there was no sexual tension or tenderness or working together or anything and suddenly they are in love? It was a weird non relationship, all smoke and mirrors. I felt absolutely nothing between them. Even when they were rescuing her daughter they disagreed on how to do it and fought each other and ended up doing their bits to effect the rescue separately. Then they decided to have sex after the kids got away back at the same camp the bad guy and snatched the girl from, when they knew they bad guys were out there and figured well it's raining so surely the psychopath won't come after us in the rain.

I actually liked the relationship between his son and her daughter much better. There was genuine feeling there.

Generally I like JS much better than this. Oh well, this one just wasn't for me. ( )

Author recommended as someone who writes older couples. In this story, he's 40 and she's 36. Can't say I'm impressed. Heroine suffers crippling anxiety over her grown daughter and all kinds of other things, put everyone's life in danger. TSTL. And everyone is having sex in the middle of kidnappings and abductions. Sorry. ( )

This was a character driven story about 4 people who end up on a journey of self discovery during a backpacking trip. There was also some suspense of murders that had happened over the years in the woods where they are camping and they unsuspectingly are right in the middle of his hunting ground and he’s watching them.

The characters are a mother and daughter and a father and son. There is a bit of a twist as the two adults had been married to people that had an affair with the other and were now married - which made their collage age kids step siblings.

Both Abby Hammond and Nathan Strom were still trying to put the pieces of their lives back together. Nathan had the most demons as he had been an absentee father and husband for most of his marriage due to being a professional baseball player who when his career ended he spiraled into alcoholism and alienated his family even more. He has been sober for 3 years now but his son has never forgiven him and makes it very hard for Nathan to try and repair the damage. Abby on the outside is a pretty put together woman but on the inside she still suffers anxiety from the earthquake and the blow to her esteem by her husband’s betrayal. She never let that get in the way of her relationship with her daughter though.

These four people go through a lot of emotions out on the trails. Abby and Nathan are attracted to each other but both leery about getting involved but they have some great one on one talks that start the healing process for them both and they form a bond. The kids have been best friends for years with the son doing his best to keep it that way for fear of ruining something good. Their story doesn’t end on happy note so hopefully they will get their own book in the future.

This was more of a love story than the intense action suspense that we got in the first book but the author still keeps your attention throughout with the pain of these 4 people.
( )

3.5 Stars...

*****MILD SPOILERS******

So, I've been really digging this series and look forward to a new release each time I see the pre-order button on Amazon and this one I kinda had reservations on because we met Abby and Brooke in the novella, Island Peril, and I really couldn't identify with Abby. She has panic attacks, almost smothers her daughter with her attention, and is a fatalist. She's always looking for something bad to happen. I know it all comes from her earthquake ordeal, which is understandable, but I really can't stand people like that. So, needless to say I wasn't as excited about this book as the previous ones. It's really just about crazy family relationship issues along with some questionable actions and hiking for about the first half then they're running to save Brooke from crazed mountain men then more fucked up family relationships. As a person who has step siblings on both my mother and father's side I have never looked at my stepbrothers with any sort of interest. That's just gross. Especially if you've been related for seven years! I found that whole sub-story very disturbing. And for Abby and Nathan acting like it's all perfectly fine for siblings (even if they are step-siblings) to sleep together? Nope. And add in the fact that Brooke is trying to hook up Abby and Nathan all the while her dad is already married to Leo's mom. Is she trying to see how many ways she can be related? What if Abby and Nathan had a baby? What would that make Brooke and Leo? Weird! All that aside I liked the actual rescue part. All that action had my blood pumping. Would I recommend this? I still don't know the answer to that. ( )

My Booklist review:
In her latest California action romance, Sorenson (Freefall, 2013) reconnects readers with nurse Abby Hammond, who, if she learned nothing else from the San Diego earthquake depicted in Aftershock (2013), now knows to prepare for the worst but to hope for the best. She takes this to heart when she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail with her daughter, Brooke; Brooke’s stepbrother, Leo; and Leo’s father, Nathan Strom, a famous baseball player now disgraced by YouTube-documented drunken antics. Although they have all heard the stories about missing girls on the trail, they believe the police who theorize that the girls have just hiked out of the area and aren’t actually missing. At least, Abby and her family believe this until Brooke is abducted one night. They then begin the hunt for the strange man and his teenage son who sure did seem menacing when they met on the trail. As they work together, Abby, Nathan, and Leo come to know and respect one another in new ways, finding inner strengths none of them knew they possessed. Sorenson cements her emerging reputation as a master of romantic suspense with this tale of terror, reconciliation, and love. ( )