"Abandon" by Blake Crouch

Here we go again with Blake. Kindle recommended one of his first books, and I didn't think twice about purchasing it. Well, it's definitely what we can call an "early Crouch."

It doesn't have any sci-fi at all, it's a treasure hunt(-ish) novel about old mines and gold bars. The author splits the narrative into two somewhat converging timelines, which is a nice touch, keeping things moving interestingly. The book ends with two characters (no spoilers) meeting.

"Abandon" is packed with action and a bit too much unnecessary violence (but I guess the times were violent). Even though I thought that the characters acted stupidly a few times, I realize that fiction writers give people too much credit, even when their characters do dumb stuff. In reality, people are way more irrational and do much crazier and stupider things than any fiction writer could imagine.

The ending was anti-climactic, but something that I could see in an Uncharted spinoff. I'm not sure if sci-fi and spooky supernatural would have helped or done harm to the novel, so I'll place it where it is. As an early book, this is something to be proud of.