Review by Booklist Review
Sixteen-year-old Maggie Atkins thought her terrifying past was behind her, but a school camping trip forces her back to the mountain where she and six of her classmates were kidnapped and held captive 10 years ago. Now, with a strained home and school life and a recent breakup with her former best friend and boyfriend, Maggie must confront her trauma while navigating the treacherous Scottish wilderness with those same classmates. Things grow more dangerous when a storm separates the group, and her chaperoning dad and friend Ant get swept downstream. Strange accidents begin to occur as they deal with storms, mudslides, and the struggle to find their way home, sparking suspicions that their current situation is no coincidence. The author deftly weaves a psychological mystery with a survival story, exploring how past trauma can shape a person's resilience and strength. This is a compelling tale of survival and self-discovery that will resonate with readers who appreciate suspenseful stories and cheering for the underdog.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Seven teens returning to the scene of a traumatic memory must evade an unknown assailant in this formulaic survival thriller by McKay (Have You Seen My Sister?). A prologue details the kidnapping of Maggie and her six elementary school classmates. After the others escape captivity in the Scottish Highlands and leave Maggie behind, a later encounter between the six-year-old and her kidnapper culminates in her captor falling off a cliff. Ten years later, the youths, now teenagers, head back into the Highlands for a school-sanctioned camping trip chaperoned by Maggie's math teacher father. While most of the company overcomes their first mountain obstacle--a river crossing--via boat, the vessel is soon carried downstream by the fast-moving rapids with only Maggie's father and classmate Ant on board. Now stranded, the six remaining teens take shelter in a seemingly abandoned shepherd's hut, waiting for the pair to return. But as the weather worsens and their lost companions fail to appear, things go from bad to worse. Maggie's emotional strength and vulnerability, and her desire to overcome feelings of abandonment brought about by people she believed were her friends, make up the core of this high-stakes whodunit. Maggie and Ant read as white. Ages 12--17. Agent: Veronique Baxter, David Higham Assoc. (Dec.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In a shockingly unlucky turn of events, a group of teens in Scotland who as children were abducted by their bus driver again face danger in this thriller. Maggie Atkins and her fellow survivors find themselves bound for Enrichment Week, a required school hiking trip led by Maggie's father, Mungo, on Cairn Gealach, a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Troubling history haunts the survivors, including betrayal by Maggie's former boyfriend, Ben, who's now dating Chinese Scottish Stephanie; Stephanie seems to be the sole student who's not white, and she endures racist jabs from miserable bully Seb. Seb's twin brother, Lawrence, might be the only person besides Mungo who really wants to be there. Pouring rain and a challenging river crossing set them on course for a crisis almost immediately when Mungo and Maggie's exuberant friend Ant, who's nonbinary, becomes separated from the others. The group, rounded out by affable, supportive Cass, a transfer student from London and the lone newcomer, must dig deep to rise to the challenges they face. A gripping blend of action-laden natural disasters and eerie suggestions of paranormal possibility will keep readers on tenterhooks as conditions on the mountain worsen and the seven fight for their lives, all the while contending with the deep rifts that divide them. An engrossing thriller and propulsive survival story rolled into one.(Thriller. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
