Mike Dellosso delivers another home run with “Fear Mountain,” a novel he recently released to help his family’s adoption journey. They hope to bring home a teen-age girl from Eastern Europe, and the proceeds of this book’s sales help them in their quest. So buying this book is a win-win — you get a great piece of fiction to read AND you help a young girl join her forever family!
But back to the book.
“Fear Mountain,” told from the perspective of 17-year-old Billy Harding during the post-WWII era, finds Billy and his brother, father and grandfather on their annual hunting trip on Bear Mountain — known as Fear Mountain by the locals. However, Billy doesn’t really want to be there, because he can’t possibly be more different than his dad and brother, Henry. They love to farm and hunt and do “all things manly.” Billy loves to read and learn and hopes to maybe be a preacher one day. He has a way overactive imagination and is afraid of everything, especially the woods.
One night during this hunting trip, his grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, goes missing. What follows is a crazy, heart-pumping, scary tale. I’m not going to talk much more about the plot because I don’t want to give away anything, but it’s incredible.
And Billy, self-proclaimed scaredy cat, finds himself in the position of having to save his family. He must learn to dig down and find the strength and faith to rescue them.
Dellosso’s writing is very descriptive. An example: “Looking up into the abyss that sprawled above us, watching the darkness enclose and swallow the flashlight’s beam much like an octopus envelopes its prey in a tangle of tentacles and slowly, steadily, draws the helpless victim toward its beaklike mouth …” He’s such a descriptive writer, you will feel like you are right in the middle of the action. Dellosso also makes several references to Biblical characters like Sampson and Daniel, but in almost a humorous manner in the middle of a stressful situation.
“Fear Mountain” is a novel of prayer, faith, rescue, questioning if a person can change, listening to our calling, overcoming fear, and trust — can Billy trust the stranger, Peter, who mysteriously appears and, more importantly, can he trust God? It reminds us God is always in control, as does this quote: “But our God is a God of order and the sun always rises, pushing back the darkness and giving way to hope and a new beginning, a new day.”
This book will intrigue you right from the beginning and leave you on the edge of your seat until the very end. One small disclaimer though, there is violence in this book — quite a bit of it.
I always enjoy the twists and turns Dellosso offers in his novels. Five stars out of five.