Ava Stanton has been giving ski lessons in the Sierras but doesn't believe it will pull her family out of debt. Her uncle Paul, always following some dream, has invested badly and there isn't enough money to run Whisper Mountain resort. Luca Gage is skiing on the neighbouring land and realises that someone is in trouble. He arrives just as a person on a ski-mobile uses a stun gun on Paul and kidnaps him despite Ava's best efforts. The girl falls onto cracking lake ice and Luka scrambles desperately to find a rope.

Luka is a professional treasure hunter and he wonders if Paul might just have something valuable this time. Ava's uncle cheated people in the past, and lost friends, but Luka has nothing against the girl and is determined to help her. The pair wade through snow and care for Paul's elderly dog, but someone is prowling around the resort with unknown intentions. Maybe Paul did hide an item of value, or a clue to its location. Ava is struggling to manage with a father who is an invalid in hospital and not much support from anyone. The budding friendship between the young people however falls flat when Ava realises that Luka's family is interested in buying her resort.

There are some nice details about gems in FINAL RESORT and a definite nip in the air as cars slide off roads, logs roll onto travellers and snowstorms hinder rescues. I wondered why Ava couldn't sell timber? The land is 'adorned with white-crusted fir trees' and managed forestry would seem worthwhile. And for a place so far from noise and smothered in snow, how are prowlers constantly able to creep right up on Ava and Luka without even a crunch underfoot? Maybe these two damaged their hearing at rock concerts?

There is plenty of action but it doesn't always come across as believable to me, especially when one swipe tumbles two people into a disused cable car which then trundles off on rickety wires. How often would stuntmen have to practise that scene? Dana Mentink has written a lively installment in her Treasure Seekers series, with awe-inspiring landscapes and memorable characters, and while the outcome is not hard to guess, the identity of the vicious prowler is a mystery almost to the last. FINAL RESORT is a dynamic adventure and worth a read - by a warm fire!

Book Summary

Ava Stanton has no need for love or tales of hidden treasure—until her uncle is kidnapped at her family's ski resort. Now she needs help from professional treasure hunter Luca Gage…the man she'd tried to forget. Signs point to a fortune hidden in the mountain, and Ava and Luca need to find her uncle before his assailant finds them. As their search for treasure draws them closer together, Ava must decide how long she'll run from love. She doesn't have much time, because something is buried under Whisper Mountain—and someone is willing to do anything to get to it.