Review: The Mountain Between Us

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On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport.  Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding.  Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to get back East for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day.   When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection.   And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently.   And then the unthinkable happens.  The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness-- one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States. 

Ben, who has broken ribs and Ashley, who suffers a terrible leg fracture, along with the pilot's dog, are faced with an incredibly harrowing battle to survive. Fortunately, Ben is a medical professional and avid climber (and in a lucky break, has his gear from a climb earlier in the week).  With little hope for rescue, he must nurse Ashley back to health and figure out how they are going to get off the mountain, where the temperature hovers in the teens.   Meanwhile, Ashley soon realizes that the very private Ben has some serious emotional wounds to heal as well.  He explains to Ashley that he is separated from his beloved wife, but in a long standing tradition, he faithfully records messages for her on his voice recorder reflecting on their love affair.  As Ashley eavesdrops on Ben's tender words to his estranged wife she comes to fear that when it comes to her own love story, she's just settling.  And what's more: she begins to realize that the man she is really attracted to, the man she may love, is Ben.

As the days on the mountains become weeks, their survival become increasingly perilous.  How will they make it out of the wilderness and if they do, how will this experience change them forever?

Genre: contemporary romance

Publication date: June 2011

Mature content: yes, though nothing of sexual nature

Review: The Mountain Between Us is one of those books that you either love our you hate. I'm happy to say I fall into the first category. And if you have seen the movie, it has almost nothing to do with the book - other than the name and two strangers stranded on the wilderness after a plane crash. The sequence of events is not even the same - and frankly, I found the book way, way better. 

In The Mountain Between Us, heart-stopping, action packed scenes live side by side with slower moments, especially those in which Ben is recording messages to his wife, but that's just part of the beauty of the story. 

In the middle of nowhere, with virtually no resources, Ben and Ashley have to push well beyond their limits just to stay alive. The Mountain Between Us is a tribute to courage, strength, human resilience. And love.

 

Although by the end I had already figured out (or had strong suspicions) about Ben's wife and children, it still made me cry. Charles Martin's writing is so realistic that you actually feel you are there, side by side with the characters, seeing what they are seeing. The only issue I had with the story was the fact that Ben hopped on a plane knowing the pilot had, in his own words, a "bum ticker". That would have been a major no-no for me and I kind of saw it as a hole in the plot (the only one) - everything could have gone the same way without us (and Ben) knowing it beforehand.

Even though I realise this may not be a book for everyone, I totally recommend it. 

Happy readings!

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