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"How to Survive in the Woods"| Reviewed by Pat Sainz
- cstucky2
- 7 minutes ago
- 2 min read
“How to Survive in the Woods,” by Kat Rosenfield, is a chilling novel fraught with tension. Themes of betrayal, loyalty, and survival, both in nature and in relationships, are imbued in this 300-page book.
Emma is a young, brilliant entrepreneur who has created an international company that develops exercise, health supplements, and behavioral programs based on a person’s genetic profile. She has become one of the wealthiest women in the world in very short order. Her life is frenetic: she travels constantly, develops products, and is a much-acclaimed speaker. A force of employers carry out her every wish for her company which sports the slogan “Creative Consumption."
Emma shares almost nothing about her life with interviewers or acquaintances. What the public doesn’t know is that everything Emma does is a reaction to being raised by a survivalist father, famous in his own right for promoting a lifestyle with unwavering rules and a quest for superior physical capabilities. Even after his death, Emma is influenced by his warning to trust no one and to question everything. She has been taught to rely only on herself.
When Emma finally reaches the point of collapse in a harrowing and public display, she is “rescued” by Logan who recognizes her need to let go of her structured life. He takes over her life, convincing her that only he knows what is best for her. He isolates her from everyone and everything she has known. At first, Emma is grateful that she no longer has to make decisions until his obsessiveness becomes frightening.
When Emma decides on a path to free herself from her abusive and narcissistic husband, she counts on her impressive wilderness survival skills to carry out her plan. A harrowing trip though the last trail of the Appalachian Mountains in Maine reveals Logan’s consummate acts of betrayal and manipulation.
Rosenfield has written an engrossing psychological thriller. She is the author of “No One Will Miss Her,” an Edgar Award nominee for Best Novel. She is also a YA author, an essayist, and cultural critic for several newspapers including the Boston Globe.
