The Challenge: A Novel (Random House Large Print)

The Challenge is another fascinating novel by renowned author Danielle Steel. Set in beautiful Montana, five families face a situation in which any parent would be holding their breath. Most of the kids are about fourteen or fifteen years old, with one eighteen-year-old and the youngest being a six-year-old. They decide to go for a ride on horseback to have a picnic, and although they are warned that there may be a storm coming, most of the kids know the terrain very well and think that crossing the dry river bed will not be a problem. Unfortunately, a flash storm comes in before they can head back.

This happens at the beginning of the book, and the kids name their adventure “The Challenge.”

This part of the book was suspenseful, and I have to admit I held my breath while the kids were out in the wild. I was a bit disappointed with what happened after the rescue, however, because the story seemed to slow down quite a bit. One of the fathers dies from a long illness, and one of his sons is mortified when he finds his mother with another man. There are several problems that occur within the dynamics of the families, and I feel like, had “The Challenge” been at the end of the book, things may have turned out differently and for the better.