Published: November 2016
ISBN: 9781101982273
A father from Chicago takes a road trip to the city of Whitehorse, in Yukon Territory, with his wife and son. During the car ride, they reveal to the boy their harrowing experience surviving a horrific plane crash in the wilderness ten years before, which is how the boy, in fact, came to be born. Set amid the deep, wild woods of the Yukon, First Light tells the story of Daniel Albrecht and Kerry Egan, young lovers leaving a work trip in Alaska to plan their wedding back home in Chicago. Not long into their trip, both engines of their plane catch fire and send them careening into a mountainside in the middle of a terrible snowstorm. Kerry is seriously injured in the accident, and it soon becomes clear that search-and-rescue teams aren’t going to find the survivors in time to save her. Daniel—the one person with survival experience amid the passengers—makes the courageous decision to find help and bring it back to the rest of the passengers, hoping against hope he might save the woman he loves. He leaves Kerry in the care of their coworker, Phil Velez, himself seriously injured in the crash, and takes off into the woods to find a town, a house with a telephone, a road. Something.
But Daniel’s choices are made all the more difficult by the presence of his boss, a stubborn man more interested in results than taking care of people. Only one man will come out of their trek alive, but it still may not be in time to save Kerry and the others back at the crash site, slowly dying from their injuries.
As the parents’ story draws to a close, the truth about the boy’s life, and the identity of his father, will at last be revealed.
My review
I just finished this book, and just... WOW. I don't know if you ever saw the movie 'The Sixth Sense'? The boy who wispers "I can see dead people"? At the end of the movie, you are kind of shaken, because you so didn't see that one coming. Well, with First Light it is just exactly the same. In the last few pages, your world just turns on it's axis. Breathtaking, moving and shocking.
Needless to say, this book gets a fivestar rating. The story starts with a boy, whose parents have survived a plane crash, ten years ago. They receive an invitation to a memorial and decide to go on a roadtrip (of course they wouldn't set a foot in a plane any more) to attend this meeting. During the trip they tell their story, so that their son finally understands what has happened all those years ago.
The story is told through the eyes of different characters. Mainly from Kerry and Daniel's point of view. You can't help to dislike Bob. I mean, seriously, what kind of boss is he? And the scary part is: I think there are really those kind of bosses out there. And Phil, what is to like about him? He is mostly self-centred and a bit stiff and arrogant. But after a few days in survival modus at the plane, he even manages to surprise Beverly, the elderly nurse, who also survived the crash and is tending to all the injured passengers.
Not to reveal the story to you, I'll not go into detail further. But seriously, if you want romance, drama, and even some excitement. Please read this book. Thank you FirstToRead for this gem. I'll keep an eye out for more books from Bill Rancic.
