Chased

Title: Chased
Author: M. Liz Boyle
Series: Off the Itinerary, book 2
Major Themes: Hiking, Wilderness, Survival, Montana
Synopsis: After they help a hiker in distress, Marlee, her sisters, and their friends find themselves being chased by the man.

A couple of years ago, I reviewed the first book in the Off the Itinerary series, Avalanche. I tried reading it aloud to my children, but the boys got pretty disgusted with it and I quit reading it to them. When more reviewers were needed now for the rest of the series, I decided to read them—but not aloud! 

Marlee and her sisters, and the Miles brothers, have returned to the wilderness for another backpacking trip. After the disaster last year with the avalanche, they are going to be very careful, and stick to the itinerary this time. They have made sure their parents know where they are planning to hike, and where they will camp. Everything will go well this time, right?

The teenagers come across a hiker suffering from heat exhaustion. After they help him recover, suddenly he wants to get rid of them—and after they find and return the map he dropped, he starts chasing them! Soon, things are really going downhill fast, and Marlee finds herself and Sawyer stuck fast together. I won’t tell you how, because it would be a major spoiler, but they were in quite a predicament. The scenario that played out was quite plausible, but when I told my older boys briefly what had happened they were incredulous and thanked me for not reading the book to them. I decided again that this is a book for girls, not boys. 

There isn’t quite as much about boyfriends/girlfriends in this book, although Marlee frequently mentions how Ellie and Sawyer like each other a lot. They aren’t officially a couple yet, but she’s sure they are headed that way. I did appreciate some of the conversations about this topic; it seemed like these young people had fairly strong convictions about what was right and wrong. Once, Marlee thanked Sawyer for being a good example to the younger ones.

Another thing I appreciated was Marlee’s mental discussion (with herself) about having cared for a person and saved his life, and then he turned against them. She had to keep reminding herself that they had done the right thing, what Jesus would have done.

As far as Young Adult fiction goes, the Off the Itinerary series seems to be very good. I liked Chased better than Avalanche, although the probability is stretched a bit. It’s well-written, though, and a very clean book. I’m very happy to find a YA book that isn’t fantasy! I am allowing my 12-year-old to read the series. 

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

WARNING: Don’t read it if you don’t want to hear about bladders! Also, once someone says yikes.