Ava Stanton has been giving ski lessons in the Sierras but
doesn't believe it will pull her family out of debt. Her
uncle Paul, always following some dream, has invested badly
and there isn't enough money to run Whisper Mountain
resort. Luca Gage is skiing on the neighbouring land and
realises that someone is in trouble. He arrives just as a
person on a ski-mobile uses a stun gun on Paul and kidnaps
him despite Ava's best efforts. The girl falls onto
cracking lake ice and Luka scrambles desperately to find a
rope.
Luka is a professional treasure hunter and he wonders if
Paul might just have something valuable this time. Ava's
uncle cheated people in the past, and lost friends, but
Luka has nothing against the girl and is determined to help
her. The pair wade through snow and care for Paul's
elderly dog, but someone is prowling around the resort with
unknown intentions. Maybe Paul did hide an item of value,
or a clue to its location. Ava is struggling to manage with
a father who is an invalid in hospital and not much support
from anyone. The budding friendship between the young
people however falls flat when Ava realises that Luka's
family is interested in buying her resort.
There are some nice details about gems in FINAL RESORT and
a definite nip in the air as cars slide off roads, logs
roll onto travellers and snowstorms hinder rescues. I
wondered why Ava couldn't sell timber? The land is 'adorned
with white-crusted fir trees' and managed forestry would
seem worthwhile. And for a place so far from noise and
smothered in snow, how are prowlers constantly able to
creep right up on Ava and Luka without even a crunch
underfoot? Maybe these two damaged their hearing at rock
concerts?
There is plenty of action but it doesn't always come across
as believable to me, especially when one swipe tumbles two
people into a disused cable car which then trundles off on
rickety wires. How often would stuntmen have to practise
that scene? Dana Mentink has written a lively installment
in her Treasure Seekers series, with awe-inspiring
landscapes and memorable characters, and while the outcome
is not hard to guess, the identity of the vicious prowler
is a mystery almost to the last. FINAL RESORT is a dynamic
adventure and worth a read - by a warm fire!
Ava Stanton has no need for love or tales of hidden treasure—until her uncle is kidnapped at her family's ski resort. Now she needs help from professional treasure hunter Luca Gage…the man she'd tried to forget. Signs point to a fortune hidden in the mountain, and Ava and Luca need to find her uncle before his assailant finds them. As their search for treasure draws them closer together, Ava must decide how long she'll run from love. She doesn't have much time, because something is buried under Whisper Mountain—and someone is willing to do anything to get to it.
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