By Jeff Long
Atria Books
Hardcover, Paperback and Audio CD (Unabridged) Editions

Best friends since childhood, Hugh Glass and Lewis Cole share a love of mountain climbing that borders on obsession. They return to Yosemite’s El Cap, the wall they christened more than thirty years ago. Their wives, whom they met at the base of the mountain, are lost to them now. One leaving. The other dead. Each man has his own reason for attacking El Cap again.

As Hugh readies their supplies, he discovers the dead body of a beautiful, fallen climber. A crazed, raving caveman appears but serves only to delay Hugh’s efforts to tell rangers about the apparent accident. Once Lewis leaves him at the lodge's bar later, Hugh finds himself tempted by his buddy’s estranged wife.

The Wall Excerpt Quick as a bird, she steals a sip of air. Faith. She grips the rope with all her might and wills the world to freeze, the rope to weave itself together, her body to be as light as a feather. Abruptly she is weightless. It breaks her heart. She whispers, ‘No.’ It was not supposed to end this way. You climb hard, get high, tango with the sun. When you fall, you fall with grace and the rope takes over. You heal, if necessary, and reach into your heart. Chalk up, tighten the knots, and get on with the climb. That’s the way of it. Ascent abides. Always. The physics of the breaking rope flips her sideways, and then facedown. ©2006 Jeff Long Published with permission

Something about their climb doesn’t feel right. Doubt looms between them and even their old rituals and scripted utterances don’t heal the rupture. Something is beckoning Hugh upward while warning Lewis to abort. In the meantime, the lunatic caveman who has stolen the dead woman's body, reappears.

Things are further complicated when they are joined by Augustine, a young, showy member of the rescue crew who is determined to locate the surviving two members of the ill-fated but gutsy three-member climb. Without adequate sleep or nourishment, Augustine is a danger to himself and to his spooked partner who abandons him and descends with Lewis.

Hugh, still lured by sirens, joins Augustine for a more dangerous mission than he imagines. The demons that frightened Lewis back down the mountain begin to emerge. Voices, shadows, rain, fire and ice threaten to send them flying into the abyss. Just about five-hundred feet from the summit, the ropes that have held them together begin to unravel.

Bookworm's Briefing
The Wall is a flawlessly written story of man versus nature, his fellow man and himself. The action is intense. The characters hang on the edge of life and death, always fighting the urge to look directly into the bright light of uncertainty.

When the story is finished, all of the expertly inserted clues come to the fore. This novel is recommended to anyone who appreciates great fiction.

Jeff Long is the author of six other books of fiction, including The Reckoning, Angels of Light and Empire of Bones.