By Claude Teweles
1989 Dell
Paperback, 213 pages
Of course, the first reason that
you need this book is to pore over Jill Bauman’s amazing cover art. If that
doesn’t grab your eye, I don’t know what will. Some readers have complained
that despite the cover, this is not a horror book, but I beg to differ. The
events that the characters go through are horrific indeed and though this is mainly
an adventure story, the horrors are very real. The back cover mentions Deliverance
and Lord of the Flies and I can see both in here; humans trying to
survive while nature kicks their ass.
A couple of counselors take a
group of teen and younger kids on an overnight hike into “The Wilds”, a section
of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, to show them how to track and really get
along in the wilderness. Gordon, a counselor, is back as the mountain expert,
even after a fatal mishap the previous year. He has a lot to prove to himself.
Del is a 15 year old who looks and acts older and thinks of himself as an
unofficial counselor, though in reality he is still just a kid. Kyle is a moody
kid who would rather just be left alone and has a love/ hate relationship with
Del. And so the group ascends. What could possibly go wrong?
The tension between Del and Kyle
makes them split up going up the mountain, forcing Mr. Dugan, the man in
charge, to go look for him and take a near fatal fall. And then Gordon takes a
fall, leaving most of the kids to their own devices high up in The Wilds. No
problem, right? Until an unexpected blizzard hits. Hey, it was June but up
there, there’s always a chance of snow.
Not everyone is going to survive.
Each chapter (except one) starts with either Gordon, Del or Kyle’s name and we
see things from their point of view and food runs out, hope runs out and nature
has its way with them. Each of them has personal baggage that will weigh
heavily on them during their ordeal. The smaller kids also worry about “Donner
Man” thanks to a campfire story about the Donner Party and the cannibalistic
results. The suspense, the tension and yes, the horror really ratchets up to
eleven and you can feel The Wilds taking them in. I had the misfortune of
reading this during a cold snap in May and I was shivering under the blankets.
This is a top shelf struggle for
survival story right here. Fathom Press reissued the book in 2025. Look for it
with Julia Teweles as the author as she transitioned in 2007. I will be keeping
my eye out for Teweles’ other horror book The Stalker (Zebra Books) because
I liked this one a lot.
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