Ski Weekend takes what could be a very ordinary event and, through a combination of bad luck and poor judgment, turns it into a thrilling adventure where you know not everyone is going to survive but hope it won’t be as bad as you fear.
The book opens with six teens heading on a ski weekend. Sam and her younger brother, Stuart, and his best friend, Gavin, along with three other classmates and Gavin’s dog. The mood at the start is fairly typical – lighthearted joking with a bit of sniping – but when they learn the road is closed their decision to take a little-known shortcut brings about a horrifying set of circumstances.
Nine times out of ten, their actions would have ended just fine. This time, there’s a crash and they are stranded in the wilderness with a storm approaching and no way of contacting anyone. They settle down to sit out the time until someone comes to save them, but all too soon they realise that nobody knows they’re lost and they cannot guarantee anyone coming to rescue them.
After an initial attempt to scout for potential help, Stuart is injured. He gets sick, and as the storm draws in it is clear they are not all going to make it out alive.
While the characters involved are not all bound to survive, the way they are presented means we get to know them pretty well and find ourselves caring about them more than you might expect. The creeping sense of unease is ramped up until, finally, we know a difficult decision has to be made. Some of the details are a little more graphic than I’d have liked, but I was pleased that some of my fears about what could have happened to them did not come to pass.
Overall, this was a story that I found myself far more caught up in than I expected. I could certainly see this making a great movie, and I enjoyed the fact the characters were more fleshed out than is often the case in this kind of thriller/horror survival story.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this in advance of publication (expected October 2021).