“Wildland” by Rebecca Hodge

Title: Wildland
Author: Rebecca Hodge
Publisher:  Crooked Lane
Year: 2020
Genre(s): contemporary
Part of a Series: No

Rating: 

Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club pick.

Summary: After receiving life-changing news, Kat retreats to a mountain retreat she once visited with her late husband as she considers her decision. Her daughter, Sara, gives her mother a rescue dog to take care of and Kat also befriends her closest neighbors – military and security contractor Malcom and his son Nirav and IT professional Scott and his daughter Lily. They also rescue a puppy as well and Kat gives him a home. But the area has been experiencing a severe drought and a electrical storm soon puts them all in danger. Will Kat manage to rescue the children, the dogs and more importantly, herself?

Review: I did something with this book I almost never do.

I spoiled myself.

As I noted in the summary, there are dogs featured prominently in the story. And I just didn’t have the emotional capacity to handle something bad happening to one or both of the dogs. So I will break my no spoiler rule to reveal that the dogs are fine. You can read the book without worrying about that.

I don’t mind spoiling you because I found that spoiling myself didn’t affect the suspense or tension in the book at all. Even though I knew the outcome, I still wanted to know how the characters reached it. Hodge did a wonderful creating the sense of urgency that permeated the book after the fire started. The story kept me on the edge of my seat and I was eager to see how everything worked out in the end.

Hodge also handled multiple narrators well. Switching between Kat and Malcolm helped build their stories and provide a full picture of everything that was happening. And she never once sacrificed tension by doing that. Especially since both narrators were experiencing the same amount of tension and urgency though for different reasons. I got absorbed in both parts and give kudos to Hodge for that.

Her characters also felt real and relatable. I commend Hodge for writing realistic children. Some writers can forget what is age appropriate and either make children too adult or too young. But Lily felt like an almost teenager who gets shuttled between her mother and her father, the latter who is a workaholic who hasn’t really noticed his daughter has grown up so is still trying to do things she liked when she was younger. And Nirav is clearly a child who has had past trauma and is slowly opening up now that he has been adopted by Malcolm. He bonds quickly with Kat and Lily, showing that he just wants a family – even if it’s a found one.

Hodge also has a descriptive style that allowed the scenery to come to life. I could picture the scene from the helicopter as they hovered over the areas they believed Kat and the children could be. I could also imagine the forest as Kat and the children tried to stay ahead of the fire. I could see the wildfire. It helped draw me further into the story and ante up the tension.

Bottom line: A good and ultimately uplifting read.

Sex: None.

Moonlight Musing

Do you think you could survive a wildfire?