Book Review – The Twenty-Ninth Day by Alex Messenger

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Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for letting me check this one out.

If you’ve followed any of my reviews, or even read any of my work – you’ll know I have a soft spot for woods based thrillers/horror.

I grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere in BC, Canada. Hunting was a part of life and my grandfather had a trap line for many, many years. It was a way for him to bring in some extra money when he was laid off from logging. The wild has always been something that I’ve been told to respect. Things can change in an instant, no matter how well prepared you are.

This is the case for Alex and his group. Part of a wilderness survival type group – Alex and the other’s head off far north, into the Canadian tundra, on a journey of a lifetime. Essentially 30 days of back country survival, living off of the land and testing their personal boundaries.

On day 29 – disaster. Alex is mauled by a grizzly bear. Now it’s a fight against time – against infection, the possibility of rabies as well as the land itself.

The book itself flows along nicely. We get some fantastic wilderness descriptions and the accompanying photos were a nice touch.

Some people might be put off that the ‘attack’ part isn’t a long section, but this is real life, not a movie. Grizzlies work to kill their prey quick, exerting as little energy as possible. Why Alex survived, who knows? But he did.

I really enjoyed the portion after the attack. We get to see the group band together and do what it takes to make sure their partner and friend makes it out alive.

I liked hearing the follow up at the end, how he was doing post attack. And while this may sound morbid – my only gripe were there were no photos of the attack damage. I think this would have really solidified just how phenomenal of an ordeal this was.

Really great read, made my heart hammer my chest when the bear arrived, but kudos on telling a very level survival story.

5/5