Mammoth
By Douglas Perry
Blurb
The news hits Mammoth View, California, early on a summer morning: there's been a massacre at one of the camp-sites outside town. It's not clear what happened, but it's obviously bad. And it's not over. As residents panic and head out of town, Police Chief Kenneth Hicks and his deputy set off into the woods to investigate.
The camp-site attack appears to be the perfect coincidence for Billy Lane. Looking for the biggest score of his career so he can send his daughter Tori to college, he's targeted the local bank. But the robbery does not go well and the aftermath goes even worse. The unexpected mass panic by the towns residents has jammed up the one highway out of town, forcing Billy to improvise. He heads up Mammoth Mountain, planning to take a treacherous escape route. Worse, he's learned that his daughter, supposedly safe in a summer camp, is missing.
Over the next twenty-four hours, chaos descends on Mammoth View. Billy will have to find deep wells of courage and ingenuity to survive. Tori, coming to terms with who her father really is, will discover she's much stronger than she ever thought possible. Chief Hicks will face his past personal failures and his present professional ones. All of which leads inexorably to what really happened at the camp-site outside of town.
Our Review
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
When I first saw the cover of the book my immediate thoughts were that it looked eerie and hauntingly beautiful. It was the cover that drew me to it and then when I read the blurb it was like a double whammy. It definitely intrigued me and I was very excited to read it.
Mammoth view in California is hit with news of an attack one evening. Nobody knows what happens but they know it is bad. Residents of the town begin to panic and leave town whilst the local chief of police and his deputy head out to investigate.
Billy Lane is the only one who thinks the disaster is a good thing as it provided a welcome diversion from news of a robbery at the local bank, a robbery he committed.
Over the next 24 hours chaos descends on the town of Mammoth View. What really happened?
The first scene of the book begins with local policemen Tony Berenson and the Chief Kenneth Hicks discussing the discovery of a fully loaded HK33 assault rifle and its origins. Whilst they are discussing it news comes in of an attack. "It’s spreading everywhere. It’s coming this way. About twenty yards to my right-then there was a screech from the radio and nothing. What happened?".
I found the first chapter suspenseful and engaging and it definitely made me want to read on.
I loved the style of writing of this book, phrases like “the horizon shimmered like tinsel.”
Billy Lane struck me as a thoroughly unlikeable character. He met his wife when she was a frustrated actress and he was a frustrated singer, they decided to exercise their frustration by embarking on a life of crime. During a bank robbery gone wrong Becks got shot by a security guard and he and his accomplice left her behind and she later died. He comes across as selfish and self-involved.
Tori, Billy Lane’s 16 year old daughter, is staying at the only running camp for girls in the country. She is a bit of a loner at the camp and her need to have some time away from the rest of the girls leads to an interesting day for her.
I liked that this story had lots of little twists and how each aspect of the story intersected at various points along the way. I genuinely cared about what was happening to each character and where their tale was going to end up.
I liked the ending, it was unexpected and I don't think that was a bad thing. I enjoined the suspense throughout the book and the fact that it keeps you guessing throughout.
Our Final Rating...
Read & Shared 34 Times.
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