-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
by Drew Magary
From the author of The Postmortal, a fantasy saga unlike any you've read before, weaving elements of folk tales and video games into a riveting, unforgettable adventure of what a man will endure to return to his family.
When Ben, a suburban family man, takes a business trip to rural Pennsylvania, he decides to spend the afternoon before his dinner meeting on a short hike. Once he sets out into the woods behind his hotel, he quickly comes to realize that the path he has chosen cannot be given up easily. With no choice but to move forward, Ben finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a world of man-eating giants, bizarre demons, and colossal insects.
On a quest of epic, life-or-death proportions, Ben finds help comes in some of the most unexpected forms, including a profane crustacean and a variety of magical objects, tools, and potions. Desperate to return to his family, Ben is determined to track down the "Producer," the creator of the world in which he is being held hostage and the only one who can free him from the path.
At once bitingly funny and emotionally absorbing, Magary's novel is a remarkably unique addition to the contemporary fantasy genre, one that draws as easily from the world of classic folk tales as it does from video games. In The Hike, Magary takes readers on a daring odyssey away from our day-to-day grind and transports them into an enthralling world propelled by heart, imagination, and survival.
"Magary's second novel (after The Postmortal) features elements reminiscent of Homer's Odyssey, Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and the PC game King's Quest. Mostly, it is a reminder of not only how easy it is to get lost but also how difficult it can be to find one's way back. Fast-paced and immensely entertaining, this is highly recommended for sf fans and adventurous literary readers." —Library Journal (starred review)
"In this literary odyssey, Magary combines fascinating dream imagery, assorted video game tropes, and a story structure that's deliberately predictable (with nods to many other tales of wandering through strange lands before returning home) but still surprising." —Publishers Weekly
"Creepy... . Magary isn't shy about getting weird fast... . [He] even nails the ending with a Twilight Zone twist that would have Rod Serling nodding with approval. An eerie odyssey that would be right at home in the pages of the pulpy Warren comics." —Kirkus Reviews
"The Hike is Cormac McCarthy's Alice in Wonderland—gritty and terrifying but with deliriously surreal twists and turns. There's not a chapter that doesn't shock and surprise, and underneath it all is the levity and wit I've come to expect of Drew Magary's writing." —Jeffrey Cranor, New York Times bestselling cowriter of Welcome to Night Vale
"The Hike is so much fun, has so much pure velocity, that I didn't realize until it was too late—what I thought was a drumbeat of excitement was actually the novel's secret, powerful heart. Magary's new book is a metaphysical thrill ride that will stay with me." —Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
This information about The Hike was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Drew Magary is a correspondent for GQ and a columnist for Deadspin. He is the author of the memoir Someone Could Get Hurt and the novel The Postmortal. His writing has appeared in Maxim, New York, The Atlantic, Bon Appétit, The Huffington Post, the Awl, Gawker, Penthouse, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and on Comedy Central, NPR, NBC, Yahoo!, ESPN, and more. He's been featured on Good Morning America and has been interviewed by the AV Club, the New York Observer, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and many others. He lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids, and is a Chopped champion.
If you liked The Hike, try these:
I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now only that place where the books are ...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
