Review: Deathwatch by Robb White

Yippee! At last, a book that fits all the requirements for those teen males who "have" to read something but "hate to read." Deathwatch by Robb White has it all: short---just over 200 pages, which most English teachers require; adventure; suspense; outdoors; mystery; guns; and, best of all, no gushy romance at all!

Here is how the conversations with these boys typically go:
Him: "I want a book just like Hatchet, which is the last book I actually read." (Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen is required reading in 5th grade in our district.)
Me: "Are you willing to read nonfiction adventure stories, like Into the Wild, or Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer?"
Him: "How many pages?"
Me: "Around 300."
Him: "No."
Me: "What about really exciting dystopian novels like The Hunger Games."
Him: "Does it involve any romance? Because I don't like books that have any romancing-stuff."
Me: "Umm. A little, but it isn't the main part of the story."
Him. "Then no."

Up until now my choices were pretty slim and many of them were really written for a younger audience.  Now I have discovered Deathwatch and I am fairly sure that this is just the book these boys have been looking for.

Here is the little teaser on the back of the book: "Madec was not the kind of man Ben would ordinarily have chosen as a companion for a quiet hunting trip...He was a cold man who liked to hurt things, and he was dangerous with a gun. But Ben needed money for another semester at college, and so when Madec offered to hire him as a guide to hunt bighorn sheep in the desert mountains, he agreed. it was a mistake that very nearly cost Ben his life."

And here is the funny part that it took me so long to find this book...it was first published in 1972. It is a timeless story, I didn't even miss the cell phones. With them, there would have been no story. Without them, it was a life or death struggle.

30 books this Summer Reading Challenge

4 / 30 books. 13% done!