The Hike by Lucy Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Maggie, Liz, Helena and Joni have been a fabulous foursome for a long time. The women have history, friends since childhood, who have stuck together through thick and thin. Even when life took them in unexpected directions.
They’ve been good about keeping in touch and even have a tradition of taking trips together, just the four of them. It’s a great way to reconnect and recharge.
Their most recent excursion is going to take them far from the beach trips they are used to though. This time around, the women are heading to the majestic mountains of Norway to go hiking.
A hiking trip!? Some of them are more prepared than others, but let’s be honest, none of them are truly prepared for a serious trek through the mountains. Nevertheless, they persist and head for the wilderness.
This is a little slow to start, as we’re introduced to the different ladies and get the scope on their current life status, as well as their relationship to all the other women.
There are some strong personalities in the group, but they seem to all get along for the most part, and provide a lot of support and encouragement for one another. But no friendship group is perfect, and this one has it’s cracks.
In addition to interpersonal dramas, dangers on the trail are many; some of them coming in the most unexpected forms.
Clarke took this story in directions I definitely wasn’t expecting, and you know what, I really enjoyed it. She succeeded in keeping me on my toes and entertained.
When the women travel to Norway, they stay in a small town adjacent to their trailhead the night before they set-out on the anticipated 4-day hike. It’s there we meet some of the locals, and we do end up following some of the local drama, as well as the perspective of one of the local men.
I was surprised when we got that perspective, and initially it seemed a little odd and out of place. Clarke did bring it around and tied everything together fairly seamlessly in the end. Although, admittedly, I did have trouble differentiating between a few of the male characters.
For me the highlight of this book is the relationships amongst the women and the fact that they undertake this crazy hike. I love hiking and being out in nature, so that also tends to be something I have fun with in fiction.
There’s a lot of time to think on the trail, and if you’re with other people, a lot of time to talk and bond. I think these women were in over the heads and the pressure starts to show early. That brought out some issues that needed addressing, and boy do they get addressed.
While this did start slow, the pace steadily increases throughout. By the end, it’s going top speed, as you try to ascertain who’s going to make it out alive!?
This is the second novel that I have read from this author, the other being One of the Girls, also a girls getaway story. I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as OOTG, but this has definitely solidified Lucy Clarke as a go-to author for me.
If you enjoy Travel Thrillers, or stories that involve female friendships, you should definitely give this one a shot. It’s exciting, intriguing and made me want to go to Norway even more than I already did. Job well done by Clarke.
Thank you to the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m seriously sorry it took me so long to get to it.
It was a trip!!
