God of the Brooks: A Story of Extreme Survival is a Christian adventure novel written by Bruce Hamilton. He and Les had taken many a trip in Les’s Cessna in search of new places to hunt or fish, and today’s trip was no exception. They had decided to check out new territory north of the Brooks Range, and after their lunch stop at Cold Foot, continued on their way. Bruce had experienced his first big Alaskan adventure when he was nine years old, and his dad had taken him by float-plane to a lake that teemed with giant Northern Pike. Even decades later, he still got a thrill looking down at the wilderness that was Alaska. Les had been keeping careful track of the weather conditions that morning, but the weather changed abruptly, and soon the little plane was being bounced around by turbulence. Taking it up out of the storm’s reach only made things worse as the wings quickly iced up, and the plane started losing power. Then, a plateau appeared out of nowhere; a safe place to land, but the landing itself was a hard one, and only Bruce survived.

In his Christian adventure novel, God of the Brooks: A Story of Extreme Survival, Bruce Hamilton shares many of his own experiences during a lifetime spent in the Alaskan outdoors. I also love the outdoors and try to get in some hiking whenever I can, and have to admit that the lure of Alaska and all that open natural space has always appealed to my sense of adventure. Hamilton’s story is gripping and suspenseful. Reading Hamilton’s story, I marvelled at how anyone could survive prolonged exposure in the extreme cold of the Alaskan North Range. I was fascinated by Bruce’s account of getting off the plateau where the plane crashed and determining how he would survive and maximize his chances of being rescued. His discovery of the hot springs is a pivotal moment that had real impact. Hamilton’s story reads quite well; I could feel his exhaustion and refusal to give up, and I was impressed by the power of his faith, and its role in keeping him motivated and strong. God of the Brooks: A Story of Extreme Survival is most highly recommended.

God of the Brooks: A Story of Extreme Survival by Bruce Hamilton is a combination of a Christian gospel tract and a fictional adventure story of wilderness survival. The story begins in the month of October, as hunting partners crash their plane in the Brooks Range in Arctic Alaska. Only one man survives. He is injured and he has to use everything he ever learned about survival techniques if he wants to get out alive. With winter fast approaching and tundra and rivers difficult to cross, he makes the decision to wait until everything is frozen solid before walking hundreds of miles to get to the nearest road. During his time in the wilderness, he also walks a spiritual journey as he recognizes the providence of God and examines his own spirituality.

I found it amazing that there are enough known wilderness survival strategies for anyone to possibly make it through such an ordeal. Although it is a novel, Bruce Hamilton writes from his own experiences, having lived in Alaska for 50 years, and so many things ring true and the locations are all real. Hamilton has accompanying maps, photographs and illustrations, and they are gorgeous, but they are on his website instead of in the book. They really should be in the book. I also found the frequent spiritual reflections to be well-intentioned, but preachy in places. The language in these sometimes lengthy sections seems better suited to the pulpit than to a “sourdough” in Alaska. Nevertheless, the adventure was engaging and I eagerly kept reading to see what would happen next.