Denny's first camping trip is far from ordinary; it seems he and his 17-year-old stepbrother Rick are being pursued from campsite to campsite by a well-financed, gorilla-like escaped killer against whom Rick has testified. Somehow Denny still manages to make the most of his experience -- attending a ""wolf howl,"" learning about ecology, and even meeting a girl -- all in between skirmishes with his pursuer. Readers too can afford to take time out as the suspense is less important than the opportunities it provides for innocuous messing about in the woods.