Earthquakes occur often in Alaska, almost everyday the Earth shakes and man must work through the after effects. In any emergency, survivors must pool resources and skills to insure the health and safety of the group.

In Wilderness Spa, Jim Halverson has taken these undeniable facts and crafted an excellent story of how a diverse group of people react to a life altering event such as the earthquake in the beginning. They must evaluate the risks and face the extreme conditions that they must travel through to get help. I loved the group dynamics, even the less than helpful who would think only of themselves. As each learns to shoulder their share, the book gets better and better.

I had been so looking forward to reading this book. It was everything I imagined from the description. It was so exciting. I was on the edge of my seat reading it. The plot was a real page turner. A fight for survival. The authors descriptive writing skills really showed. Great characters all pulling together in that fight for survival. Very different from other books. Very well written and flowed well

I may be biased, but I really love physical survival books, also anything that takes place in cold / snowy places. Therefore I had really enjoyed it. The story did not stay with me as long as the setting is sadly.

Great book that keeps your interest the whole ride through it. It was a bit slow to start but nothing horrible that made you want to put it down. Loved the characters and their development over the course of the book.

I'm a sucker for a good survival story, but this fell flat. The characters tended to repeat themselves and there was a lot of repetition in general and over explanation of characterization. That said, I read it in 48 hours, so I guess the story was compelling enough?

An earthquake in the Alaskan wilderness leaves a seasoned bushman without his family and livelihood, a group of tourists guide less and brothers who only know the good life, to survive and make their way to civilisation.
Tom knows that he has the skills to walk out of the devastation, but an encounter with a bear means he’ll have to rely on the group of strangers for help.
It’s interesting to see how the group, led mostly by Tom, learn to find food, make camps and work together to plan each day. The group as a whole did learn a lot about themselves and how they interact with others.
I felt that some of the storyline was not strong or convincing, Tom’s initial injuries would have made a trek through the forest difficult. The dialogue was also stilted and repetitive at times.
Finding their own‘Wilderness Spa’ members of the group realise their worth and support each other to continue to learn and grow.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.