When I read a "summer book," I want to be entertained. If I learn something new, that is just a bonus.
I got lucky in finding both when I read "The Mountain Between Us," by Charles Martin. When a winter storm strands passengers in the Salt Lake City airport, Dr. Ben Payne must find a way back East to perform scheduled surgeries. Fellow passenger Ashley Knox is also flying back East for her wedding. Payne charters a small plane to take him to Denver, hoping to catch another flight back home ahead of the storm. He offers the other passenger seat to Ashley.
Mid-flight the pilot has a heart attack and crashes the plane in the mountains. Ben and Ashley are injured and there is little hope for rescue. They must find a way down the mountain, through the snow and ice, with little idea of which direction they are going.
The author describes the harrowing trek to find civilization with such accuracy that I felt the cold and the snow. It was a good read during our 90-degree-temp days. I couldn't put it down.
Marilyn Reilly, Minnetonka
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