HURRICANE CANOE

Two mismatched men fight the elements on a camping excursion gone awry in Brock’s thriller.

Gilbert Willards and Trent Leno, soon to be brothers-in-law, embark on a seemingly innocuous Adirondack wilderness camping trip. The author deftly establishes Trent as the moodier, more intimidating presence and Gilbert as a more timid man who begins to regret accepting his camping invitation. From the opening scene, a canoe launch in which both men seem to be fishing more for takes on each other than for trout, narrative tension and suspense begin to build. The trip devolves as a capsized canoe on Long Lake leads to makeshift fireside camping on a small island, where Trent proceeds to grill Gilbert about his loyalty to his wife, Jeannie. A suspicious Gilbert sleeps with one eye open. Meanwhile, an ominous storm barrels toward the Atlantic coastline, and they awaken to find themselves engulfed in the tempest’s fury. In between the camping scenes, the author fills in a good amount of backstory involving Gilbert’s fumbled involvement with the mob and his incrementally building unease about the confrontational Trent’s suitability as a match for his wife’s sister. Playing out against the majestic peaks and lush valleys of the Adirondack Mountains, Brock’s yarn unfolds at a brisk clip, driven by the men’s will to survive despite the violent whims of Mother Nature. The tension is palpable and built upon the precarious, volatile nature of human relationships as both men fight back the urge to panic (the hungry wildlife doesn’t help) as a devilish, terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues (“He made a show of stretching his arms and yawning, but never took his eyes off of Trent, not needing to be a psychic to see the machinations taking shape behind his cold eyes”). Ultimately, the narrative meets the challenge of keeping the suspense level taut and the details crisp throughout this long novel, maintaining the intensity at a fever pitch from its arresting start to a shocking conclusion readers won’t see coming.

An exhilarating exercise in suspense, with perils both natural and human-made.