Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Breaking Wild


Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets
Penguin Publishing Group: 2/9/16
eBook review copy; 320 pages
ISBN-13: 9780425283783


Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets is a highly recommended novel of survival and suspense featuring two different women. 

Amy Raye Latour has left her husband with the two children at home while she is on a hunting weekend with two male friends in western Colorado. The guys have gotten their elk, but Amy Raye is a bow hunter and she is still going out one last time on her own, hoping to get an elk to come near enough for her to shoot and bag. What she doesn't realize is how tenuous her situation really is and the importance of her choices - now and in her past.

Pru Hathaway is a archaeological law enforcement ranger with the Bureau of Land Management. She has a teenage son she is raising herself. She also has the only certified search and rescue dog in the county, Kona. When Colm, the county sheriff, tells her of a missing hunter, Amy Raye, Pru and Kona join the search. As the days turn into weeks and the official search is over, Pru alone keeps thinking about Amy Raye and continues the search.

The chapters of this mesmerizing book alternate between the lives of Amy Raye and Pru. We learn what is currently going on and what has happened in the past; what has made them the strong women they are today. Both women have had sorrow and loss in their lives, but they chose to handle it differently. Amy Raye was hiding plenty of secrets and is a seriously flawed character. What they have in common is a love for the healing nature of nature, whether it is the land, or animals. 

The writing is incredible and brings to life the characters and establishes the setting. It is nice the see strong, albeit flawed, women living, striving, enduring, and surviving on their own terms in what could be termed a man's world. Amy Raye's situation is life threatening and Pru is a strong, determined, capable woman. 

The ending was... rather anti-climactic after all the drama preceding it. Actually, I would have liked to learn more about Pru's life afterward. I quite liked her character, which is in strong contrast to how I felt about Amy Raye. While she has some qualities that could be appreciated, her back story turned me off and I was growing tired of reading about her poor choices. I really enjoyed Les Becuets' writing and hope to read more from her in the future.


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of the Penguin Publishing Group for review purposes.

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