Oblivion Road by Mcaulay

This is a thriller. Five teens set out for home after a ski trip in the mountains and in a snow storm on a short cut road, with less traffic. They go off the road and down an embankment. One kid is hurt. Two go out into the storm to try to find help. Instead, they find a prison van with a dead driver, also crashed. They head back to the suv and comparative safety to tell others what they found and huddle together for the night. They have plenty of junk food and gator ade to sustain them but cold will be a bit of a problem. Upon arriving back they discover an unconscious man in a prison uniform nearby and rescue him despite their doubts. Over the time he helps them in several ways and tells about one of the prisoners who had killed his own family and canablized his own sister. He says he knows where the nearest town and help is. At thirteen miles away the fitest teens and the prisoner, his hands still in cuffs figure they can make it to help. They leave one of the teens in the van with the injured teen and set out. What happens along the way, snow caves, attack of wolves, discovering another of the escaped prisoners, death, one girl falls over a cliff and is pinned by a boulder and a last wild battle between a very evil man and two of the teens is truly harrowing. Fast paced, easy to read, for entertainment only, this is not a book for a thoughtful reader. JDW 2/21/08