{Synopsis} – No grizzly has ever killed a human in Glacier before . . . until tonight. Eleven-year-old Melody Vega and her family come to Glacier National Park every year, and it’s always been a place where she can forget her troubles. But this year is different. With Mom gone, every moment in the park is a heartbreaking reminder of the past.
Then Mel comes face-to-face with the mighty grizzly. Now her only thought is one of survival. Mel will soon be a part of one of the most tragic seasons in the history of America’s national parks – a summer of terror that will forever change ideas about how grizzlies and humans can exist together in the wild.
{My thoughts} – Melody, her Grandpa and her younger brother Kevin are spending time at the family cabin. They are more or less camping in Glacier National Park like they do every year. Although, this year things are very different. This is the first year they are camping there without her mom. Her mom passed away in a car accident a few months earlier. Melody blames herself for the death of her mother. She had begged her mom to let her have a sleep over with a friend the night of the accident. Melody was in the car. She will never forget that night and completely blames herself, which at eleven I can see how that can be an issue and how that can happen.
Fast forward to camping. One night she is outside dousing the camp fire and a grizzly bear comes out and scares her. It scares her so much that she freezes and then remembers what her mother had taught her about similar situations. Melody does what she can remember and then gets safely inside the cabin. Once she is inside she tells her grandpa and brother. Her grandpa can’t believe what he is hearing, that is until he sees for himself that the bear is outside. It is on the porch waiting to strike.
Kevin her little brother makes some noise and gets it’s attention which causes it to attack them from the outside of the cabin. They grandpa figures out a way to scare it off. When Melody goes looking for answers about why the bear attacked the forest rangers act as if it isn’t that big of deal and that they know that some of the bears are acting off.
A childhood friend of their mom comes to visit them at the cabin. She helps them to investigate what is going on with the bears. The things they uncover are unbelievable and unfathomable. I can’t imagine why anyone would be so dumb as to put theirs and other peoples lives in danger just so that they can carry on, in an attempt to pretend like nothing was wrong. The acts they carried out against the bears is unspeakable, immoral and uncalled for.
I really enjoyed learning about this topic while reading this book. This is something I’d only heard of but never fully investigated.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series very soon!
Final Conclusion: 5 Star Rating.
