A Chilling Tale
Description
Margo Fletcher, eight months pregnant, is traveling by train from Chicago to Spokane, her childhood home. While passing through an isolated portion of the Rockies in blizzard conditions, the train unexpectedly brakes. Up ahead, deadly snow from a massive avalanche plummets down the mountain. Despite the conductor’s order for the passengers to stay seated, former Army Ranger Nick Eliot insists that survival depends on moving to the back of the train. Only Margo believes him. They take refuge in the last train car, which Nick heroically uncouples in time to avoid the avalanche. The rest of the train is hurled down the mountainside and is soon lost forever in a blanket of snow. Margo and Nick, the sole survivors, are stranded in the snowstorm without food, water, or heat. Rescuers might not arrive for days.
When the weather turns violent again, the pair must flee the shelter of the passenger car and run for their lives into the wilderness. They must fend off the deadly cold as well as predatory wild animals foraging for food. Eventually, Nick leads Margo to shelter in a watchtower atop a mountain. There, we learn that both Margo and Nick have secrets that have brought them together and threaten to destroy them. Cover Your Tracks is a chilling story of love and hate, the devastating power of nature, and the will to survive.
Details
- Book Title: Cover Your Tracks by Daco Auffenorde
- Narrator: Allyson Ryan
- Category: Adult Fiction
- Length: 7 hours and 50 minutes
- Genre: Mystery/Thrillers
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media / Keylight
- Release date: October 20, 2020
- Content Rating: R – A few graphic descriptions
My Thoughts
This review of the audio is a bit of a struggle for me. When I read this story, I was so busy turning pages and caught up in the mystery and suspense that I hopped over things that now concern me. And to be clear, they bothered me then too, but I ignore them.
The fast-paced story again grabbed my attention as I listened to the audio. It begins quickly. Immediately it leaves you asking what will happen next. Two people are up against the forces of nature. And to make it even more interesting, one is pregnant and due to deliver any time. Will they survive? Will a search party locate them? It’s hard to find a place to turn the story off.
Nick, one of the two survivors is a former Army Ranger, so far so good. But then, of course, we have Margo, 8 and a half months pregnant and not in any condition to traverse snow and freezing weather. But will she and Nick become great friends? After all, Margo is going to be a single parent. Or is Nick a bit shady? Again, the audio keeps rolling. Gotta have some answers.
But the story doesn’t keep going at break-neck speed for too long. Interspersed between what is happening on the mountain to the two are flashbacks. So little by little, we do get to know more about these survivors.
This thriller goes from this direction to that. Parts of it, especially the last of the book, are not for the weak. It is graphic and some might call it a bit over-the-top gross. It’s a tale that’s hard to stop listening to, but at the same time, I had concerns.
My Concerns
The part I was referring to earlier, regarding my first read and listening to the audio, is the fact that the reference to Margo being pregnant felt completely overdone. Most readers will find pregnancy hard to ever forget since it adds such a concern to what they are going through. And if I had been reading a Kindle I would have counted how many times the word belly was used. But since I can’t, I will just say way too many times.
Though she was easy to understand, I really can’t say that I cared too much for Ryan as the narrator. Something about her voice didn’t quite click with me, and the variance in female voices was minimal, only a higher pitch. I’m sure it is nothing more than personal preference, however. Her voice was very easy to understand.
My Conclusion
I loved the fact that this audio kept me listening almost from the minute I started it. The story captured my attention and wouldn’t let up.
My thanks to #DreamscapeMedia and #NetGalley for this audiobook. My review was not influenced by this review copy.
Rating 3.5
I liked lots, but some things bothered me.
About the Author
Born at the Naval hospital in Bethesda, Maryland and raised in Huntsville, Alabama—also known as Rocket City for its role in building the rocket that took astronauts into space—Daco holds a B.A. and M.A.S. from The University of Alabama in Huntsville and a J.D. from the Cumberland School of Law. She is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Alabama Writers’ Forum, Authors Guild, and Alabama State Bar. Picture © Turner Publishing Co.
