This is none other than my favorite book of all time. Not only favorite Stephen King book, but also the most underrated Stephen King book I think. Most know him for the infamous Carrie or The Stand, The Shining. However, to me, this is the most reputable book because he torments you with just his words in a way the others don't. There is no gore, no true "horror" purely terror and suspense.
It begins with three people, a mother whom is divorced, and her two children, the older brother, and younger sister, Trisha. The mother has planned a trip for bonding (the mother and son do not typically get along), and has chosen hiking the Appalachian trail.
Trisha wanders off having to pee, (I swear not all my reviews will involve a female having to pee) does her business, and does not remember the direction she just came from. She attempts a short cut as the trail makes a Y shape, and she figures she could just walk from one spoke to the other.
She ultimately walks the wrong direction and becomes completely lost, only headed deeper into the miles and miles of forest. As night falls, she begins to panic. Only being nine years old, she has no idea what to do, but understands the severity, and that people are often hurt, starved, or killed by the woods.
She turns to her Walkman for a radio broadcast of her favorite baseball team's, Boston Red Sox, game for comfort. We discover early on that Tom Gordon is her hero, if we couldn't guess by the title. She hunkers down for a place to sleep after consuming some items of food she had brought for the hike.
Eventually, she runs out of food, including water and her beloved soda. Other things occur such as falling down a steep hill, being scraped and cut on the way down only to land in a wasps' nest, but right into water as she chugs. This water ends up making her very sick, and she spends the next few nights getting used to it while vomiting and having horrible diarrhea.
Trisha's mind begins to slip, and she is near insanity as she hallucinates that her hero is walking beside her, and she also visualizes clearly her best friend, Pepsi. She talks to them, and this comforts her. But there is also something stalking her, which is very real, just not the reality that is in her mind.
