Into the Jungle — Erica Ferencik

In this pulse-pounding thriller from the author of The River at Night, a young woman leaves behind everything she knows to take on the jungle of Bolivia, but her excursion abroad quickly turns into a fight for her life.

Lily Buschwald is ready to live life on her own terms. After years in foster care, she is determined to leave behind everything she knows for the adventure of a lifetime: teaching English to a wealthy family in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

But the program she's signed up for is a scam. Suddenly rudderless and broke, she begins a whirlwind romance with Omar, a savvy, handsome local who's left his life as a hunter in the remote jungle village to try city life. When Omar learns that a jaguar has killed his brother's child in Ayachero, he gives Lily a choice: stay alone in the unforgiving city, or marry him and travel to the last in an ever-isolated string of river towns. Love-struck Lily sees no option. She follows Omar to a ruthless new world of lawless poachers, heartless missionaries, and option-less indigenous tribes driven to the brink of survival. A far cry from the romantic life she imagined, Lily is forced to navigate the jungle -- and its residents -- using her wits and resilience.

Primal, gripping, and terrifying, Into the Jungle features Erica Ferencik's signature “visceral, white-knuckle” (Entertainment Weekly) prose that will sink its fangs into you and not let go.