Snowbound Six

by Richard Martin Stern

A search and rescue team braves deadly natural forces and ruinous human shortcomings to rescue a family trapped in the New Mexico mountains by a terrifying blizzard.

Genres: Adventure, Novels, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1977

About the author

Richard Martin Stern was an American novelist. Stern began his writing career in the 1950s with mystery tales of private investigators, winning a 1959 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, for The Bright Road to Fear.
He was most notable for his 1973 novel The Tower, in which a fire engulfs a new metal-and-glass frame skyrise. Stern was inspired to write the novel by the construction of the World Trade Center in New York City. Warner Brothers bought the rights to the novel shortly after its publication for roughly $400,000, and Stern's book, in combination with the novel The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, was the basis for the movie The Towering Inferno, produced by Irwin Allen and directed by John Guillermin and featuring an all-star cast. The film, shot with a $14 million budget, earned more than $100 million at the American box office.
Stern was known mainly for his mysteries and disaster-related suspense. He died on October 31, 2001, after prolonged illness. He was 86.

Reviews

[Bev Walkling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Snowbound Six. It was a nice change from books that are about criminal acts and evil people. Richard Stern is known as someone who wrote about disasters and this book fits into that category as well as being a story of survival. The weather is a main character in this book, capricious and hard to predict.In the mountainous terrain near Sante Cristo, one needs to be prepared for all eventualities before setting out as things can change (and do) in the blink of an eye. A wrong turn on the road to an old friends home puts one family well beyond their comfort zone. Ben, an angry loner and ex-soldier who is prepared encounters them, leaves them and then turns back when he realizes that they are likely not prepared for the storm which is starting. Higher up, a pilot makes a disastrous change in his flight plan that leads to a crash with one dead and one survivor. The land is unstable thanks to road work which has undermined the stability of the whole mountain. Down in the town as the storm begins, there are those who make themselves available just in case someone will be in need of their volunteer search and rescue skills. Murphy's law and the stupidity of police and government officials doesn't help the situation.

I was riveted by this book and didn't want to put it down unless I had too. It was interesting to learn about each character and how they handled the dangerous situation they were faced with. Some did well, others just made the situation worse. This was a good escapist read and a reminder to each of us to take the elements seriously and be prepared for when disaster strikes. Having seen in my own county how harsh winter can be, this is a good book to read in the lead up to winter. It is also a reminder that there are many good people willing to put their lives on the line for strangers (often foolish ones) that they have never met.

[intrepideddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick, entertaining read. It falls into the category of what I call "survival pulp fiction." It's not a very deep book, but it does scratch the surface of group dynamics in a survival situation. Don't expect a complex storyline or unexpected plot twists -- this one is as straight-forward and predictable as it gets. Entertaining nonetheless.

[Neville · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about a group of people (although not at first), who are 'lost' in the mountains during a sever snowstorm. One of the group was in an aircraft that crashed during the storm, a family of four became trapped when they took the wrong road to a friend's place, an ex-army member who just wanted to be by himself, became entwined with the group. The last were the rescuers who ended up trapped with the rest of the people.

The story had a few places where parts were missing where what happened to them after didn't get told. An example was the police office that took the Jeep and headed back down the mountain, therefore trapping the rescuers and the others on the mountain.

I didn't mind the read and it filled in some spare time for me.

[eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

deux étoiles en moins à cause des hommes et de leur problème d'égo... pas besoin d'en dire plus

[Jaanus Tramberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mountain rescue story.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters are boring.

[Antonella Imperiali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dovrebbe essere questo, in edizione italiana: UN BIANCO WEEKEND DI PAURA