Lost Canyon, a novel by Nina Revoyr, Los Angeles Times Book Prize nominee (The Age of Dreaming), is an exciting blend of literary fiction and thrilling suspense--a harrowing trip into physical danger and a clever meditation on race relations and bravery.
Four Los Angeles denizens embark on what they think will be a challenging but manageable trek in the Sierras; however, their hike goes horribly wrong when they cross paths with warring pot cultivators. Revoyr succinctly captures the dissimilar lives these hikers led before their trip; they are flawed but easy to identify with and empathetic from the get-go. Gwen Foster is black, a counselor for at-risk youths and reeling from the recent loss of one of her charges. Oscar Barajas is a Hispanic single parent and real estate broker, struggling with the falling housing market. Todd Bridges is an affluent white lawyer with a failing marriage. Tracy Cole, the half-Japanese personal trainer who brings them together, is so driven by her need to cultivate her physical prowess and alpha-female-ness, she may land them in over their heads. When violence flares up, each person reacts in believable ways, yet the choices they make are unexpected, revealing hidden depths and fascinatingly veiled motivations. The drug war sets them against racist antagonists with much darker agendas than anything they've encountered in their urban past.
Lost Canyon moves with headlong propulsion, but Revoyr also captures the quieter moments and restorative aspect of physical exertion in nature. She portrays the confidence one can achieve when the near impossible is surmounted, and how a few random events can alter one's life permanently. --Donald Powell, freelance writer