All that matters here is gold and power, and the rush of both: The Rush by Beth Lewis #bookreview #TheRush #NetGalley

Gold fever has taken him. I believe he means to kill me…
Canada, 1898. The Gold Rush is on in the frozen wilderness of the Yukon. Fortunes are made as quickly as they’re lost, and Dawson City has become a lawless settlement.
In its midst, three women are trying to find their place on the edge of civilisation. Journalist Kate, along with her dog Yukon, has travelled hundreds of miles after receiving a letter from her sister warning that her husband means to kill her. Martha’s hotel and livelihood are under threat from the local strongman, who is set on buying up the town. And down by the river, where gold shimmers from between the rocks, Ellen feels her future slip away as her husband fails to find the fortune they risked so much to seek.
When a woman is found murdered, Kate, Martha and Ellen find their lives, fates and fortunes intertwined. But to unmask her killer, they must navigate a desperate land run by dangerous men who will do anything for a glimpse of gold…
Rich in its setting and characters, The Rush is a gripping historical crime novel perfect for readers of Stef Penney by way of Kristin Hannah and C Pam Zhang.

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Hi and welcome to my review of The Rush!

Full disclosure: shame on me, I’d only vaguely heard of the Klondike Gold Rush, and I never realised the Klondike is in the Yukon. Gold digging in Canada? I honestly never knew it was a thing. When I hear “gold rush”, I think of California. So, many thanks to Beth Lewis for setting me straight and teaching me a thing or two, in the most entertaining way possible!

I’m a huge fan of Beth Lewis, I would follow her to the ends of the earth, and this time, it kinda felt like I actually had, following Kate on her trying journey to Dawson, and reading about Martha, owner of the Dawson Hotel (read: brothel), and Ellen, wife of a gold miner, already there in a sort of Canadian wild wild west. I’d never associated Canada with hot and dusty, but there you have it.

I can honestly only talk about this book in superlatives. The Rush is top-notch historical fiction. The setting is incredible and the writing is so vivid I felt like I was actually there. I have to say I particularly loved the ending, because for a minute there, I was afraid the author would force a little something there, but then she didn’t, she stayed true to her characters and everything flowed to a natural conclusion.

I was absolutely knackered when reading it, which usually results in me reading slower and having difficulty focussing, but there was none of that. I was hooked from the start and invested throughout, I enjoyed every minute of it. (Well, every minute except the few instances of animal cruelty, but I do get why they were included, and if I could deal with it, I’m sure anyone can.)

All the thrills and all the feels, The Rush is an engrossing, suspenseful, thrilling, well-researched slice of historical fiction that highlights the part of women in a male-dominated setting, and one that I would happily recommend to readers who enjoy historical fiction.

The Rush is out in hardcover, digital formats and audio on 10 June.

Massive thanks to Viper and NetGalley for the DRC. All opinions are my own.