Road of Bones

The protagonist of Golden’s (Red Hands) latest is Felix Teigland, a documentary filmmaker chasing a project he hopes will salvage his career: documenting life in Siberia, along the Kolyma Highway (known as the “Road of Bones”) and in Oymyakon, the coldest settlement on Earth. With camera operator Prentiss and Yakut guide Kaskil in tow, Teig is determined to dig up an unforgettable story. Something unexpected finds them at Oymyakon, something ancient and powerful that’s equally determined. In a split second, Teig’s hunt for a story becomes a fevered race for survival. From its first paragraph, Golden’s novel is a heart-stopping thrill ride. The writing is lean, muscular. Readers will feel the cold (and the terror) in their bones. But there’s also an abundance of heart—in the tender friendship story between Teig and Prentiss, in the beautifully observed moments of quiet and grace between scares, and in the gorgeous last stretch where the story’s protagonists come face to face with the terrifying majesty of nature.