Impasse

This labored adult revenge thriller from YA author Buckingham (The Terminals) pits woefully unprepared lawyer Stuart Stark against the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness. After a lost case derails Stuart's career, he and another attorney, Clay Buchanan, form Buchanan, Stark and Associates in New Bedford, Mass. The ambitious and unscrupulous Clay seizes an opportunity to shunt Stuart off to Alaska on an adventure that strands Stuart in the wild instead of delivering him to a cozy cabin. Clay then charms Stuart's wife, Katherine, into wooing new clients for the firm. Stuart nearly dies before being rescued by a trapper named Blake, and he spends the next several months figuring out what happened. Blake's tutelage in survival transforms Stuart physically and mentally, while Clay manipulates Katherine into a willing tool. Stuart's unexpected return to civilization and his discovery of Clay's treachery set the stage for his poetic revenge on both wife and partner in atale that offers only predictable developments and stock characters. (Mar.)