UCLA Medieval History professor Josie Strong is one of the few Black women professors in the country. She's made a success of her career, but when her daughter Samantha's friend is murdered and Samantha is thrown into an emotional tailspin, Josie certainly doesn't feel like a success as a mother.
Josie books a wilderness vacation out of cell phone range to bond with her daughter. What she doesn't realize is that a killer will follow them into the wilderness, and the only thing she has to protect her daughter and herself is her knowledge of medieval weaponry.
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Since I am a huge fan of Todd Borg's Owen McKenna series set in gorgeous Lake Tahoe, I immediately pre-ordered Wilderness Vacation as soon as I heard about it. Although it took me some time to warm to medieval history professor Josie Strong and her fourteen-year-old daughter, Samantha, I now know that I'm going to enjoy this series.
After all, who wouldn't like a book featuring an out-of-shape medieval history professor whose glasses are always fogging up? Josie is an intelligent woman. She's made a success of her classes by bringing in medieval weaponry to wake up her students and interest them in history; however, I do question her decision to book a vacation in a remote Canadian wilderness area. Neither she nor her daughter has the slightest knowledge of canoeing or how physically demanding it is to carry a canoe and supplies from one lake to another. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Borg is a master at writing thrilling, fast-paced action scenes, and as Josie and Samantha tried to escape a very determined killer through rough terrain, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. The author also has a fondness for dogs-- one that I share-- so it was good to see that these two women soon collected a canine companion. Another thing that I really appreciated is the behavior of the sheriff in the wilderness area. So many authors, in the same circumstances as this sheriff, would have Josie and Samantha treated as prime suspects. Not Borg. His sheriff is intelligent enough to gather all the facts and trust the two-- even though what they did was incredible.
And as the action returns to Los Angeles, another character joins the cast. Cumberland Durand, a former student of Josie's as well as a computer hacker, is an unlikely hero, but his skills shone when he teamed up with Josie and Samantha.
Strong characters, thrilling action, a vivid setting... bring on the next book!
Wilderness Vacation by Todd Borg
eISBN: 9781931296755
Thriller Press © 2024
eBook, 285 pages
Thriller, #1 Josie Strong
Rating: B+
Source: Purchased from Amazon.
Josie does sound like a very interesting character, Cathy! And that's a very clever idea to use medieval weapons as one of the book's themes. I don't know a lot about them and I could see how that part would be kind of interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting. Creating something deadly out of (practically) nothing. I kept wondering what Josie was going to think of next.
DeleteThis sounds so fun! I love that she draws on her knowledge of medieval weaponry when she and her daughter are threatened in the wilderness. This is going on the top of my list. :D
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
Delete(She sighs heavily.) And my reading list grows ever longer and more unmanageable.
ReplyDeleteAh... but you'll never ever run out of something to read!
DeleteI've been interested in this since hearing about the medieval weaponry (no doubt from being on your radar in the first place). I enjoy learning sword forms in tai chi class, and look forward to seeing what weapons and related info might be involved here. And Borg is strong enough as an author for me to be more forgiving, or less critical, about the choice of a remote wilderness trip without advance prep, because something like that is one of my pet peeves in books
ReplyDeleteIt sounds mean when I say it, but I'm much more forgiving of something like that when it's a favorite author than I am when it's a new one.
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