The Wild Between Us

Travel industry editor and former search-and-rescue volunteer Hagstrom’s debut novel takes listeners to the heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountains for a suspenseful tale full of secrets held across decades. When teenage Silas Matheson departed from Feather River, CA, after a sudden tragedy, he planned to leave it behind forever. Fifteen years later, he returns with his two young sons, hoping to show them the beauty of the wilderness he once loved. His high school best friends Meg and Danny never left Feather River, and the last thing they expected was to be called out for a search-and-rescue mission when Silas’s sons, both inexperienced hikers, go missing in the mountains. Victoria Villarreal nimbly narrates as the chapters jump between Silas’s point of view and Meg’s and from the present search mission to the one from 15 years before, when this friendship fell apart. Villarreal excels in distinguishing the main characters from each other and giving each person a unique voice within the story. She fills her performance with a spectrum of emotions that are heartfelt rather than overwrought.