In his second novel, Border Run, Simon Lewis takes us to Southeast Asia, where backpackers Will and Jake follow a local tour guide deep into the jungle in hopes of meeting and seducing the legendary tribeswomen there. When they arrive at an idyllic waterfall, it seems as though their dreams have come true; two young women entice them into the water, and their adventures in paradise begin.
Or so they think. Will and Jake quickly learn that their overly accommodating tour guide has his own agenda, and the two young men find themselves drawn into a world of smuggling against their will. In a country they do not know and with no allies to speak of, they struggle to maintain calm as things spiral out of control, but quickly find themselves in an increasingly dangerous web of lies, deceit and even murder. With their lives on the line, the bonds of friendship and their very moral fortitude are put to the test.
Border Run is a captivating novel of travel plans gone very, very wrong, but it is also more than that; within its short and action-packed framework, Lewis manages to raise important questions about human nature. How will we respond when things do not go as planned? How do we behave when we think no one is watching? What we can be driven to do in desperate situations? The combination works: Border Run is a gripping, fast-paced novel that will pull readers in from start to finish. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm