I adore October. The world is a lovely golden color and it is time for scarves and soups and pumpkins and scary stories!  Enter The Hike by Drew Magary.

Ben is on a business trip in rural Pennsylvania.  When he wanders outside his hotel, he finds a path leading into the woods.  Looking to unwind, he begins to walk the path.  Armed with his smartphone and GPS, he’ll be just fine – despite the fact that the hotel clerk denied knowledge of a hiking path nearby.  Curious.

Ben is baffled when his phone won’t work and, then, he’s chased by a homicidal maniac who’s sporting a, yes, Rottweiler’s face.  Luckily, he gets away and stumbles upon a tent, where he hunkers down, waiting for the search party that’s surely combing the woods to find him…..

Will the search party materialize?  I can’t say.  However, I can say that Ben finds obstacle after obstacle barring his onward journey, attempting to thwart him in attaining his goal.

Ben finds a friend and, within himself, the bravery and courage that he will need to sustain this hike through the woods, on the path, to – hopefully – home.