96 Miles

John and younger brother Stew have been training all their lives for disaster. Their dad is a survivalist, a good thing when you live on a remote ranch in the Nevada desert. Shortly after Dad leaves on a business trip, the power goes out. Not at their ranch, not in Nevada, but, it turns out, in the Western U. S. But the boys know how to survive. They have trained for this. But no one counted on a bunch of men holding the boys at gunpoint and stealing everything, even their water supply and generator. They have to get to Brighton Ranch—ninety-six miles away—and they have to do it in three days. They should be fine if they stick to the plan. But they don’t count on having company: a young sister and brother who join their trek whom John and Stew can’t leave them behind.

Author J. L. Esplin has written the perfect novel for our times. The writing is great, with tension on every page, a believable cast of characters, a dead-on teen voice telling the story in the first person, and everything that can go wrong going wrong. This is a real winner. Don’t miss it.