The River: 'An urgent and visceral thriller... I couldn't turn the pages quick enough' (Clare Mackintosh)

'LYRICAL AND ACTION-PACKED' Guardian 'IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN, OR FORGET' Sunday Mirror 'BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND UNBEARABLY TENSE' Observer 'I COULDN'T TURN THE PAGES FAST ENOUGH' Clare Mackintosh TWO FRIENDS Wynn and Jack have been best friends since their first day of college, brought together by their shared love of books and the great outdoors. THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME When they decide to take time off university and canoe down the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate the ultimate wilderness experience. No phones. No fellow travellers. No going back. A HELLISH RIDE But as a raging wildfire starts to make its way towards them, their expedition becomes a desperate race for survival. And when a man suddenly appears, claiming his wife has vanished, the fight against nature's destructive power becomes a much deadlier game of cat and mouse.

About the Author :
PETER HELLER is the award-winning author of THE DOG STARS, a New York Times bestseller and a Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle and Atlantic Book of the Year, and THE RIVER, an Observer Thriller of the Year. Born and raised in New York, he has travelled the world as an expedition kayaker, writing about challenging descents in the Pamirs, the Tien Shan mountains, the Caucuses, Central America and Peru. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he received an MFA in fiction and poetry, and won a Michener fellowship for his epic poem 'The Psalms of Malvine'.

Review :
The danger in Peter Heller's The River is so vast and so deadly that it dwarfs more human threats... Both beautifully written, a crisp, ice-cold immersion in the glory of the wilderness, and unbearably tense, as peril moves in on Heller gratifyingly competent explorers, whose deep friendship is tenderly evoked. - Observer Utter joy... A suspenseful tale told with glorious drama and lyrical flair... The real delight is the nature writing. The River is a fiction addition to the New Landscape writing of Robert Macfarlane and Rebecca Solnit, prose so vivid and engaging that a city-dwelling reviewer can feel the clammy cold of a fog over a river or the heat of subterranean tree roots burning underfoot in the aftermath of a fire. - Denise Mina, New York Times The gorgeously lyrical prose is worth savouring - but the superbly mounting tension tempts you to race on. A great adventure story and love letter to male friendship, with a wonderful depiction of the wilderness and superb characterisation. Impossible to put down, or forget - SUnday Mirror