The Mountain Between Us

By:  Charles Martin

Ashley, a writer, and Ben, an orthopedic surgeon, were waiting for their flight in Salt Lake City when they first met.  When their flight is cancelled due to an impending ice storm, Ben convinces a charter flight pilot to fly them to Denver and hopefully a connecting flight that will get them home more quickly.  Unfortunately, their pilot has a fatal heart attack over the High Uintas Wilderness, which has the distinction as being the most remote land in the United States. 

The Mountain Between Us is the story of Ben and Ashley's desperate struggle to survive despite the staggering odds against them. 

I won a copy of this book from Read It Forward.  However, after seeing the author interviews talking about his book, I was really excited to read the book.  When I saw the audiobook at the library I checked it out and got started. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the story.  It was interesting and exciting and I just couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.  I felt so let down when things didn't go right for Ben and Ashley and happy when something finally did.  I listened to much of this book with my daughter (8 years old) and it led to some very interesting "what would you do if..." type discussions.  I think she enjoyed the adventure aspect of the story. 

The characters, particularly Ben and Ashley, were believable.  Their dialogue was great.  I loved their sarcastic conversations.  I could relate to Rachel (Ben's wife) in that I have twin daughters and I understood her, but I won't say anything further because I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

There were a few copyediting type things that caught my attention.  Mostly repetitions, which I think are more noticeable when you're listening rather than reading.  You might not notice the same phrase 3 times when you're reading quickly, but when you're listening and have to listening to every single word, it's far easier to pick up on.

Now, my one negative...the audiobook reader.  I didn't like him.  Maybe I've gotten spoiled with some really good actors, but he just seemed not as into it.  It was hard to distinguish between narration and main character dialogue.  Most readers seem to distinguigh between these a little better...having a different voice for the main character and their regular voice for narration.  The tone of his voice seemed too jovial and lighthearted in places for two characters that have suffered major injuries and are stuck in freezing cold in the middle of nowhere.   There were a few spots where you could tell where some sort of technical editing had been done.  That wasn't the readers fault though, that was some producer some editor somewhere I'm sure.  Overall, it wasn't horrible, it wasn't even bad, I'm just being overly picky maybe.

Bottom line...go get the book!!  It was an excellent story!