This somewhat convoluted romantic suspense story features a heroine who doesn’t know what she’s getting into when she arrives in the Cascades, near the town of Mt Stevens, Washington. In MOUNTAIN HOSTAGE, Zoe Pratt from Portland has come to visit her longtime friend Shannon Banks, and their hike goes badly wrong. A stranger grabs Shannon and pushes poor Zoe over an edge; by the time she is rescued there is no sign of the other lady.

Jack Monroe is a computer buff in this first instalment of K-9 Mountain Guardians, and for relaxation, he volunteers with the local Search and Rescue group. His lively and smart dog Romeo is trained to find lost hikers and lead searchers to their rescue. Luckily Zoe is not too badly hurt, she just needs help and doesn’t know who to trust. Jack reassures her but can’t do more to find Shannon, because now a trained police officer will have to accompany SAR teams to protect them.

From this point, Zoe is meeting a few locals, not always in a good way; Shannon is a youth worker like herself, and there are a few allegations of misdeeds. Zoe is threatened and does receive more violence without even knowing why – like I said, her vacation has gone badly wrong.

At this point, I need to add that to me the tale feels formulaic and the people are not that convincing. Zoe regularly ‘senses’ that someone is upset – actually she can see and hear that they are upset. Jack doesn’t relate that well to people, but his laptop comes in useful; for someone not used to a lady friend, he seems extremely keen to do the job of the police who should be guarding her. This would be more appropriate if he actually was a police officer. Strangers seem to be in town without gaining attention. And if someone poked a gun in my back, I would not stand reading out the words on a poster on the wall. However, if you are in the mood for a lively adventure featuring a crossbred shepherd dog, MOUNTAIN HOSTAGE will keep you turning the pages to see what danger will occur next.

Author Hope White is from the Midwest but now lives in the Pacific Northwest, near the Cascades where she enjoys hiking. I’m sure a lot of the trails she describes are drawn from memory, and I wish her safer treks. This is an inspirational romance story, meaning no strong language or mature scenes, and the characters try to connect with their inner strength.