ABANDON by Blake Crouch @blakecrouch1

5 GOLD stars

Rocky mountains adventure/thriller/history

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book:  Read about it on Between The Lines book blog.

What a story!  I love death-defying adventure set in Arctic conditions, and anything to do with the way in which history circles around to meet the present, and this novel is made up of these two elements.  New York journo Abigail goes on an excursion to the lost town of Abandon, high in the Colorado rockies, with her father (who she hasn't seen since she was four), two guides and two paranormal photographers.  Back in the late 19th century the entire population of the town vanished, along with a stash of gold; the mystery of how and why has obsessed Abigail's father, Lawrence, for many years.

The story alternates between past and present, as events become increasingly perilous for Abigail and her group; all is not what it seems.  Back in the late 19th century, a picture is built up of the townsfolk of Abandon, until finally we discover what really happened.....

I read this over Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and couldn't have made a finer choice.  At first I just quite liked it, then, when everything starts to get scary (at about 30%) I feared that it might become a story of paranormal ghostly carry-on featuring demonic beings, which would have probably made me abandon (!) it, but such was not the case.  It's very much a story of the evil within man, of madness, retribution, greed, loneliness, loss ~ I loved it.  The pace and structure is perfect, with the slow unfolding of the past to mirror the present.  By the middle I liked it much more, and the last 30% is staggeringly good.

I also liked that it didn't follow oft-used resolutions.  It's unpredictable all the way through; I didn't guess any of the developments.  It's great.  Would be wonderful as an HBO series.  Buy it! 

Snowbound reviewed HERE, Run reviewed HERE