By Cameron Woodhead
The River at Night
Erica Ferencik
The River at Night. By Erica Ferencik.
Raven Books, $24.99
Four women approaching middle age embark on a white-water rafting trip in the remote Maine wilderness. It's Pia's pet project: she's the sporty and vivacious one, and not shy about showing off her athleticism with the hunky college student guiding them. The adventure isn't exactly Win Allen's idea of fun, but she ignores her instinct to avoid it. After all, getting away from her life – scarred by a death in the family, her husband's abandonment and an unfulfilling job at a food mag – might be just what she needs. But Win's disquiet proves justified. Tragedy strikes, and what started as an innocuous buddy story turns into a tale of violence, survival and deranging horror. With The River at Night, Erica Ferencik has created a surging and compulsively readable all-female nature thriller.