Into the Jungle

By: Erica Ferencik

Narrated by: Jayme Mattler

In this "hypnotic, violent, unsparing" (A. J. Banner, USA Today best-selling author) thriller from the author of the "haunting, twisting thrill ride" (Megan Miranda, New York Times best-selling author) The River at Night, a young woman leaves behind everything she knows to take on the Bolivian jungle, but her excursion abroad quickly turns into a fight for her life.

Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes: a gig teaching English in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As soon as she could steal enough cash for the plane, she was on it.

But the program was a scam. And bonding with other broke, rudderless girls in the local youth hostel wasn’t the answer. Falling crazy in love with Omar, a savvy, handsome local who’d left his life as a hunter in Ayachero - a remote jungle village - to try city life: This was the last thing Lily could have imagined.

When Omar learns that a jaguar had killed his four-year-old nephew in Ayachero, he gives Lily a choice: stay alone in the unforgiving city, or travel to the last in the ever-more-isolated string of river towns in the jungles of Bolivia. Thirty-foot anacondas? Puppy-sized spiders? Vengeful shamans with unspeakable powers? None of it matters to love-struck Lily. She follows Omar to a ruthless new world of lawless poachers, bullheaded missionaries, and desperate indigenous tribes driven to the brink of extinction. To survive, Lily must navigate the jungle - and all its residents - using only her wits and resilience.

"Gripping, breathtaking, and exquisitely told - Into the Jungle pulls you into another world, returning you forever transformed" (Wendy Walker, USA Today best-selling author).

©2019 Erica Ferencik (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Gorgeous story, thrilling adventure

I have listened to this book several times already because I keep wanting to go back with Lily to Bolivia and to the jungle. The characters are fully developed and the main characters are wonderful. I am so glad I got to know them. They are brilliant people who will never set foot on Wall Street. The plot grows out of the characters and also out of the jungle itself. I could feel the heat and the hunger and the full bellies after a hunting trip. I could see the trees and the frogs and the ants and the pigs.

Good Story!

Loved it. The story brought new cultures to life and immersed the listener in a whole different lifestyle!

Wild and Dangerous

Several pages into this novel I had decided that the teenage banter wasn't for me, but I really wanted to know what would happen in the jungle, so I kept listening and the story did developed into one that I wanted to keep listening to, waiting to find out what would happen to Lily and Omar in that South American jungle. Just when I thought there was going to be a predictable ending many things changed and I hurried through the last several chapters as quickly as events were evolving in the story.

I could see the characters.

I almost stopped listening in the beginning. I wasn't quite sure where the story line was going at first. However, it shortly developed and I couldn't stop listening. I liked the character development & I could feel their personalities. The detailed descriptions of the jungle and its treacherous inhabitants, was vivid. Great writing. Thank you!

The jungle

Liked how the jungle came to life, great descriptions of the fauna and animal life for a novel. Lilly matured some throughout and the theme of the disintegration of the land and its' indigenous people was well addressed

I can't stop thinking about this book

I finished this book last night and I woke up thinking about it. I've had dreams about trying to speak to men who didn't know English lol what I'm saying is, this book totally captivated my mind. I was in awe, horrified, and so fond of the raw humanity and nature in this story. it's beautiful and heartbreaking. I only wonder how more people don't know about this book?

jungle girl

I found this book very interesting , well read and we'll written. I hope she writes a follow up if she takes her son back.

Riveting!

Loved it! Read it, you'll love it. I finished it in 3 days. It was an escape, an adventure, a sense of knowing oneself in the habitat of your choosing. I am so glad I read this. Now one of my favorites.

An insightful and thoroughly engaging tale

A friend mentioned this book without recommending it, but the mention intrigued me so I picked it up speculatively. It wasn't a thing I had sought out, yet it grabbed me right away and did not let go.

The story us vividly told and the reading is great, very much appropriate to the text and the kind of extra lift I find brings me back to audiobooks.

But what I really thought exceptional was the honesty of the inner voice of the protagonist. Told in first person, she charmingly offers a window into the bravado of youth, its scary, foolish side but also the romance, adventure and opportunity that would be lost without the taking of desperate or impulsive chances. It offers testimony to the way in which difficult choices and life lessons play out, both inside and outside of us.

The story engages mystery, adventure, romance, magic, and the growth of personal understanding in a way that is, I think, why books (and, more generally, storytelling) exist at all.

I hope I'm not so overselling it that it can't live up. People may vary in how they see such things. But I think most will agree it's a fine adventure story so I recommend it.

A wonderful journey into the jungle

Everything about this book was fascinating—the characters, Bolivian culture (city and jungle life), action/suspense, and the wildlife. Such a great read!