Wilderness Reform

A Novel

By: Matt Query, Harrison Query

Narrated by: Todd Menesses

The authors of the “impossible to put down” (The Guardian) thriller Old Country return with a terrifying novel about a wilderness camp for troubled teens that is plagued by mysterious events and disappearances, taking survival and discipline to a frightening extreme.

Thirteen-year-old Ben is sent to a remote reform program for troubled teens by a juvenile court judge. But when he arrives at the camp, located on the edge of the vast wilderness of northwestern Montana, he immediately recognizes that there is something off about the counselors. They’re too friendly and upbeat…yet Ben can tell there’s an undercurrent of menace.

As he gets to know the boys in his cabin, he soon discovers that they each have far more going for them than whatever crime landed them there. And each has a different critical skill, one that could help them unearth what is really going on in this place—and how to make it out alive. They are inching ever closer to the truth, and the hidden evil beneath the camp’s surface will make itself known in order to deter them.

©2024 Matt Query and Harrison Query (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

old country was great, 1/2 though and still interesting, but as others have said wrong narrator.

the narrator is good and a lot of different voices he has to do and does them well with the different accents, but he's his actual narrator voice for the story that gets me bored. his voice is just deep and soothing? I dunno j just get distracted like he's trying kt hypnotize you vs listening.

Suspenseful

The book was easy to follow. It kept my attention throughout the whole book. Very suspenseful.

Loved it!

This book was excellent. Chilling and intriguing. I don’t agree with some of the reviews regarding the narrator. It seems like this is a difficult book to narrate and he does good job in my opinion.

A solid scary book

Loved old country. Liked this book a lot. I think the pace was fine. This is a hard book to narrate with many strong accents but I think he did a good enough job. I hope these guys keep writing. I didn't find the climax predictable so that is a win.

Poor narrator choice.

I loved Old Country. It was one of my most fun reads of 2023. The actual story here is fine, but still nowhere as good.

A big issue here is the narrator. It's not only that's he's really bad at the accents--though he is--but that many of the characters are very young, and he sounds, well, old. He'd be perfectly suited reading a historical book about World War II for example, but not one about teenagers.

There were parts of the story that seemed to drag. I feel like a good third probably could have been cut out. The ending was fairly exciting and fun though.

Overall though, I did pretty much enjoy the book. Perhaps this is a sophomore slump and the next one will be better.

Entertaining from start to finish

It is very hard for me to finish a book because I’m admittedly very difficult to please. I have very low tolerance for poor performance, incorrect physics (usually in sci-fi), unlikable or unbelievable characters, political lessons (of any stripe), pointless chapters (ahem, Stephen King), and a number of other pet peeves. The Query brothers are new (to me) authors who recently published this book and Old Country. Old Country was better than this one. Incredibly, these are the first two books in over a year that I’ve been able to even finish. They didn’t keep me up at night afraid of bumps in the night. But they are both very entertaining with characters I cared about. Other listeners have complained that this book was slow at times (see pet peeves). I can see where they’re coming from, but the narrative in these parts was interesting and not excessive. Others have complained the narrator didn’t do a great job. I disagree. He did a fine job. I almost didn’t buy the book because of these comments. But I’m glad I did. I’ve been giving my credits away to family members but they were still stacking up. I wish these guys had more works because I’d like to use my credits for myself. I can’t ding these books a star because they aren’t on the same level as Adrian Tchaikovshy or Frank Herbert. I give the 5 stars because they were entertaining from start to finish.

Engrossing story

Matt & Harrison Query are enough to put you off of going out into remote places altogether. And I wouldn’t have it any other way! Their previous book, Old Country, scared the bejabbers out of me. Now that I look into their background, I see why their stories have such authenticity — they’re outdoorsmen and I can identify with the way they describe the experience. Highly recommend this book and Old Country. Cannot wait for the next one!

Original, realistic, thoughtful horror/survival/adventure story.

I loved it all. The nature, the believability, depth of characters, truthful depiction of human nature. Best book I've enjoyed in at least a couple of years. I wish it went on and on. I was sad when it ended.

Awful narrator ssssslllllloooowww

The narrator was awful for this performance. Story was so slow I don’t think it ever got better. I waited a couple years for the next book from the authors of Old Country which was incredible. Good narration great story. Will Patton for the next please.