Something About Alaska – Review

I thought this was a great read when it was first published, and returning to it has confirmed that impression. The internal and external dramas are skillfully woven together, and the tension holds taut as everything builds to the final climax.

We are the mind of fourteen year old Zac in remote midwinter Alaska, as a reunion with his father goes horribly wrong.

The generous, fun-loving dad who spoiled Zac when he was ten, is now an angry bully with secrets and a drinking problem.

But he does teach Zac how to handle a sled dog team – to feed, harness and mush the dogs. Zac falls in love with dog sledding – the thrilling speed as he rides the sled, the skills, the risks, the wild but deadly beauty of Alaska in winter.

Then his drunken dad punches Zac in the face for nearly losing a sled and a team, and Zac flees their remote cabin, into an approaching blizzard.

A yellow Dodge pickup emerges out of the swirling snow on the highway. Will the scar-faced driver who gives Zac a ride save his life, or end it? Zac and the reader both eye with alarm the rifle slung against the rear windscreen. Then the blizzard descends in full fury, the highway to Anchorage is closed, and again Zac is trapped with someone he fears.

This is a book to return to, to re-live the struggle to survive in the killing cold, the internal struggles of growing up fast from a child to a young man, the love for Alaska that is the one thing the characters share.

So, harness the dog team. Pull up the anchor. Hit the quick release. Ping!

Instant acceleration. Lean into the corners, and don’t let go!