To tell the truth, at first I wasn't sure I was going to like this one. I mean I loved the other series, and I figured part of that was because of the angels, the paranormal aspect. And this is pretty much a contemporary setting, but a suspenseful mystery type. And I now know that it must be the author's writing that I love, because once again I was grabbed and could barely put the book down to work or sleep. Never mind eating, because I can read while I eat. As I read this, I kept forming in my mind who these "bad guys" really were. How did they link up to the little short bit at the beginning about one of the girls who was murdered. How did they fit into the story with the other murdered girls. And as we learned about the main characters, that even added in more possibilities of who everyone was and how they were related. Okay, here's a quick summary of the story.
The main character is Britt. She broke up with her boyfriend, her best friend's older brother Calvin, earlier in the school year. So for her school break she has decided that she wants to backpack the Teton Range. She's trained herself beforehand. She's taking her best friend Korbie and they're staying at Korbie's family cabin. Now Britt kind of has hope in the back of her mind that maybe Calvin will show up and want to go along. And then she can show off to him how good she is now that she's trained and maybe he'll want to get back with her. When she runs into Calvin before she gets to pick Korbie up, she tries to make him jealous by pretending she has a boyfriend, and wouldn't you know it, a really cute guy walks into the gas station at that exact moment. And he is nice enough to very smoothly play along. So when Britt and Korbie get on their way, an unexpected blizzard starts, and they get a little lost on the road to the cabin. Then they get a little bit stuck and decide they need to go find shelter. They see a cabin nearby in their hiking, and go and knock on the door. Surprisingly it is the boy from the gas station, Mason and another guy, Shaun. Korbie sets her sight on Shaun, even though she really has a boyfriend. But now Mason isn't as friendly and accommodating. It's like he wants them to leave. The two guys are acting pretty suspicious. Especially when after they say that they'd planned to stay in the cabin for a few days to go skiing, Britt finds there isn't really any food there. Soon Shaun and Mason show a scary side, by pulling out a gun and separating the girls. They need Britt's help to get off the mountain. She is able to convince Mason, who while not as friendly as before, still seems less crazy than Shaun, to leave Korbie behind in the cabin. She figures that will at least give Korbie a chance to not die out in the freezing weather, as she knows her friend is not anywhere near as prepared as she thinks she is. Along the way she tries to use many lies and fake outs to save herself and get away. Leading the boys to a ranger cabin, which unfortunately is not being used at the moment. But they're able to stay and eat some food. It is here that things really start to go bad. I won't list all that happens, just know that Britt begins to think that she wants Calvin back, will forgive him for anything to just have him come back and take care of her.
This was just such a good story. I seriously was left guessing who the real killer was until close to the end. Oh, I had my theories, which turned out to be partially correct. But the solution was really great, and I think it all tied up in a nice bow. However, as much as I liked the real ending of the story, in a way I think it was a bit unrealistic. How would people involved in the whole situation closely not know just who Mason was if they saw him, especially if they saw him around Britt. But I like how it did go, and would hope it could really be that way. This is a great standalone story, no trilogy here, no cliffhanger ending. Just a perfect YA mystery story. I don't think I got a picture with the author at BEA this year unfortunately.