You know when you go to a horror movie, and the main character does really stupid things, and you just want to shout at her (because, let's face it, horror movies love to make it about a her)... NO! TURN BACK! DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! DON'T GO DOWN THAT CREEPY CORRIDOR! 
 Well, in the case of The River At Night, it's more like NO! DO NOT GO OFF INTO THE WOODS TOTALLY UNPREPARED! DO NOT GO INTO A RURAL AREA WHERE THE ONLY PEOPLE AROUND FOR 30 MILES ARE CREEPY, SEXIST HUNTERS! DO NOT PLACE YOUR LIVES IN THE HANDS OF A 20-YEAR-OLD WITH NO BACKUP! 
 Okay, on the one hand we have a very readable, action-packed story that keeps the adrenaline pumping. On the other hand... STOP MAKING STUPID DECISIONS! 
 In The River At Night, four women in their mid-thirties decide to follow their ringleader's crazy push to embark on a white-water rafting adventure for their annual get-together, rather than basking on a beach or basically anything at all sane or safe. Instead, they drive nine hours into the Maine wilderness to go rafting on a remote, pristine river with a tour company that barely sounds legitimate. 
 Naturally, disaster ensues. And crazy hill people. 
 While the book held my attention and kept me turning the pages, certain things just drove me nuts. 
 First of all, I can't stand when people place themselves in peril as a growth opportunity. Nope, I've never rafted before, so it makes total sense for me to do so on a dangerous river with an unknown guide and no support systems! Slow your roll, sisters. 
 Second, there are about a thousand warning signs that any rational person might have considered. The roads are creepy. They're miles past any sign of civilization. Their cell phones don't work. All the buildings they see along the way are falling apart. The few people they encounter are weird and menacing. 
 Third, there are way too many loose ends and/or unexplained bits. If these women are the first to hit this pristine river, then what are all the other people doing at the lodge? Where are they all off to? Did our group of supposedly smart women ask any questions at all about emergency procedures or insurance or any other of about a thousand what ifs? On and on and on. 
 What really made me bonkers was how these women see themselves and each other. There are repeated references to them being middle-aged. Hello? Middle-aged at age 35? Um, no. Or take this brief description -- Wini's view of one of her friends: 
 It occurred to me that here was a woman who might not age well, especially in the face. Too many of her emotions already lived there in ever-deepening lines around her eyes and mouth -- even at age thirty-seven. But I loved her scrappy toughness; in fact, we all made fun of her for injecting her own Botox [...] 
 I mean, really. Who talks about her friends this way? 
 Finally, though, the straw that broke the camel's back for me was the crazy hill folk. If this had just been about a group of women, ill-advised and ill-prepared as they were, having to survive alone in the wilderness, it might have worked a lot better for me. Maybe what happens might have sustained an air of believability. Because no matter how dumb the whole enterprise was, it's conceivable to think that one strong personality might have been able to convince everyone else to play along against their better judgment. And given that, it could be really exciting or inspiring to see them working together, overcoming obstacles, outsmarting their own circumstances. 
 But nope. The crazy hill folk, rather than the river and the wilderness, becomes the chief danger. At which point I got muscle strain from how hard I was rolling my eyes. I mean, our heroines end up fleeing the crazy lady with a gun by jumping on a wooden raft and going down a series of waterfalls without any oars... and somehow survive? None of what happens makes a lick of sense. 
 I don't know. There are definitely exciting moments in this book, but ultimately, the profound personal growth these characters supposedly undergo because of their ordeal feels flat and false. Wini starts bland, and ends bland. I never quite got the friendship between these women, and that didn't change by the end of the book. 
 And then there's the fact that even in the next to last paragraph, as Wini is supposedly being positive, she's still focusing on her "aging body" and "dull job". Way to be upbeat, Wini! 
 So, once again, I find myself rambling on about a book I can't really recommend. Sure, it's a fast-paced read and it never lost my attention -- but too many pieces make little sense, and the weird plot choices only make it worse. Besides which, for me, a book in which supposedly smart people make decision after decision that's foolish or illogical -- well, no. Clearly, that's a situation that leaves me fuming, so this just probably wasn't a good reading choice for me at all. 
 Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.