The River at Night

By: Erica Ferencik

Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

A high stakes drama set against the harsh beauty of the Maine wilderness, charting the journey of four friends as they fight to survive the aftermath of a white water rafting accident, The River at Night is a nonstop and unforgettable thriller by a stunning new voice in fiction.

Winifred Allen needs a vacation. Stifled by a soul-crushing job, devastated by the death of her beloved brother, and lonely after the end of a 15-year marriage, Wini is feeling vulnerable. So when her three best friends insist on a high-octane getaway for their annual girls trip, she signs on, despite her misgivings.

What starts out as an invigorating hiking and rafting excursion in the remote Allagash Wilderness soon becomes an all-too-real nightmare: a freak accident leaves the women stranded, separating them from their raft and everything they need to survive. When night descends, a fire on the mountainside lures them to a ramshackle camp that appears to be their lifeline. But as Wini and her friends grasp the true intent of their supposed saviours, long buried secrets emerge and lifelong allegiances are put to the test. To survive, Wini must reach beyond the world she knows to harness an inner strength she never knew she possessed. With intimately observed characters, visceral prose, and pacing as ruthless as the river itself, The River at Night is a dark exploration of creatures both friend and foe that you won't soon forget.

©2016 Erica Ferencik (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

Gets the award for Worst Book Ever!

The River at NightThe River at Night by Erica Ferencik
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The award for the worst book ever goes to The River At Night! Never have I come across a book with so thoroughly unlikeable characters.

When I first read the description of the story I was excited. The subject was right up my alley. Four girls go into the the wild and find out that there is more lurking in the forest that they had bargained for. I pre-ordered the title and as soon as I received the email that the book was finally released I downloaded it. (Un)luckily I had finished my current read earlier that day and was able to start right away.

If only I had known then what I know now!

Let me start with saying something nice. I really like the idea of the book. Being an outdoorsy person myself I was looking forward to reading about the mishaps a group of city girlfriends could encounter in the big unknown, the wilderness of Maine.

Maine equals Stephen King, so I even expected some unsavoury characters or otherwise unpleasant situations.

What I did not expect was the sheer idiocy of our heroes, who are without the shadow of a doubt the most dislikable bunch of characters ever. Both of these facts distracted me that much from the story itself that it became less than not in the least enjoyable.

The Chararcters

In a nutshell Winnie, the ninny, goes on a hiking and white water rafting trip with her three besties. She is afraid of her own shadows and has phobias a mile long, not the least of them is the fear of stepping on grass barefoot. Someone bubble wrap her please and put her in a sterile room.

Sandra, the angel, trapped in an abusive marriage, is finally gathering up the courage to kick himself in the butt. She is only one that resembles a normal person amongst the bunch. However why she would want to put up with any of the others - someone needs to explain that to me please.

Pia, sounds a bit like an executive type biatch, who is used to walking all over people. Miss Pia has gotten comfy in her role of providing her own personal brand of guidance to her friends. She is the de facto leader of the group. Like sheep the others follow here bravely where no man has been before.

And then we have the recovered alcoholic Rachel, an ER nurse. She becomes more and more unhinged as we proceed through the story. Seriously? What did Erica Ferencik think when she created that character? This is wrong on so many levels.

Why you would want to be friends with any one them at the begin of the book is truly beyond me. How any one them still can be friends at the end defies any human logic.

As it is - they all deserve each other.

What I did not deserve though is to be treated to so much nonsense. I’m very sorry, I really hat bashing people’s efforts. But The River At Night has to be the worst book I ever read. I’m not even going to go into the story itself, because it really is not worth reading.

Pretty good, certainly different.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, it is a good read/listen.

Any additional comments?

I notice between here and Amazon, this book attracts mixed reviews of the Marmite kind. People either love it or hate it. Myself, I found it a solid 3* read. It's a good tale. It certainly held my attention and I always wanted to know what happened next. It is perhaps one of those rare stories that would be even more compelling on screen rather than in print. Some reviewers have said that the tale is implausible and that they were required to suspend disbelief just too much. To that I say, they have obviously never encountered the back country in America. It is full of the weird! Another criticism is of the central characters, that they are all dislikeable. This book depicts women coping with days of struggling in a life threatening situation. It seems to me that their reactions were entirely predictable and reasonable.

Absolutelly brilliant and thrilling

First of all I would like to respond to the first review which was written in a very negative tone and speaks more of the reviewer rather than about this book or its writter. I personally don't understand people who dislike a book and its characters let spend writing very long review slagging off absolutelly every character of the book and how much they dislike every part of it.

We don't live in a perfect world and everyone is an individual and friends in their twenties might develop into different people over the next twenty years yet still be bonded by past experiences and youth memories. Hence the different characters who still spend time together once a year despite their lifes and personalitites don't match according to "some."

I personally loved this book. This is an adventurous story about friends going on an of beaten track holiday most of them having doubts about, apart of only one - Pia, who organises it. This book takes you to wilderness of north America and describes moments and behaviour of women who happen to fight for survival when their holiday doesn't go according to the plan.

The narration is excellent and the plot believable because we have no idea what nature is like in remote places no humans live in. Give this book a chance if you like a bit of thril and thoughts about the world we live in and are looking for reading which is not like every other book on the market. I listened to this one because I loved "Into the jungle" from the same author and impatiently waiting for Erica's Ferencik another book to be released here on audible soon.