Her Last Breath by Taylor Adams

 Two women. 

A remote cave system.

One stranger.

A struggle for survival. 

Secrets...and a lie.

The plot:  As kids, Tess and Allie were best friends. Now, Allie travels the world as a successful travel influencer and Tess works as her part-time assistant. Allie is adventurous and fearless. Tess is more of an introvert. But she's also a survivor. Going caving together is supposed to help them reconnect. But then a stranger follows them into the cave, threatening them. And when Allie gets shot, Tess finds herself alone and on the run, going deeper and deeper underground, with the man following close behind. 

My thoughts:  This book is part survival story, part psychological thriller. And it's very entertaining. The chapters alternate between Tess's harrowing experiences underground, and her time in the hospital where she recounts what happened to her and Allie to a police detective. Which lessened the suspense a little, because you know right from page 40 that she survives her ordeal. But the cave scenes are intense. And there are several surprises along the way. I guessed one of the big plot twists early on, though there were moments later on that I started to doubt my suspicions. I liked that Adams kept me guessing. And the ending was great! 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

To the Center of the Earth

In 1485, Arkady Saknussov, a Russian alchemist and explorer, supposedly found his way down to the hollow center of the earth. In 1972, a group of Russian cavers decided to follow in his footsteps, venturing into Krubera Cave, one of the deepest caves on earth. Only one, Katya, made it back out alive. After spending almost a year underground. And her talk of a strange world with a red sky and a multitude of monstrous creatures landed her in a mental asylum.

But Mike Monroe believes her story. Of course, he's always believed in the possibility of a hollow center deep inside the earth. And now he's got Katya's own diary as his guide. He and his friend Jane Baxter along with four other cavers head into Krubera Cave on an expedition reminiscent of Jules Verne. Only what they encounter living in Krubera's depths just might kill them. Especially when their way out gets caved in. 

Greig Beck's To the Center of the Earth is a fast-paced, entertaining ride. There's suspense, adventure, large carnivorous plants, and gigantic insectoid monsters. I've always loved expedition stories that take place in deep, unexplored caverns and caves. That cave environment is so foreign and primordial, and the world Beck creates deep beneath Krubera Cave is evolutionarily freakish and inventive. And also very deadly. Though there were things that happened to some of the characters that made me cringe and want to close my eyes, I really enjoyed this one. Beck's books are always a lot of fun. I can't wait to check out the sequel. 

Happy Reading!

Similar reads:

Beneath the Dark Ice by Greig Beck

The Anomaly by Michael Rutger

Blind Descent and Beyond the Deep (Two awesome nonfiction reads.)

Next up:

Going deep...

James M. Tabor defines "supercaves" as vast geologic monsters that are miles long and many thousands of feet deep; they are rare and as difficult to conquer as Mt. Everest. Their hazards include darkness, vertical drops, fatal falls, hypothermia, fissures, rock slides, hurricane-force winds, dangerous microbes, asphyxiation and poisonous gases. They also have turquoise pools, cascading waterfalls, beautiful water-carved limestone formations, and caverns immense enough to hold several Greyhound buses. I find them alluring and completely fascinating, but the thought of actually exploring one scares me to death. So I read about them instead.

In Blind Descent, James M. Tabor chronicles the stories of two men--American Bill Stone and Ukranian Alexander Klimchouk--two caves, and two quests to find the deepest place on earth. It's Cheve Cave in southern Mexico vs. Krubera Cave in the Republic of Georgia. Both are incredible supercaves, and both pose great risks to anyone who enters them. And Tabor does a masterful job of taking the reader on an incredible journey deep into the center of the earth. It's a memorable and well-written true life adventure story.

But my favorite caving adventure is told in William Stone's and Barbara am Ende's Beyond the Deep: The Deadly Descent Into the World's Most Treacherous Cave. This firsthand account of Stone's 1994 expedition into Huatla Cave in Mexico is 'unputdownable'. What the cavers experience is scary, and sometimes deadly, and very hard to forget. Talk about going where no one has gone before! Both of these bookish descents into darkness are compelling reads that I absolutely loved!

Happy Reading!