Derek shook his head. “Not exactly. Bill and Erik are instructors, but I’m a psychologist. We work with people who may need to survive in bad situations—you know, like downed pilots, astronauts, soldiers. How to live off the land and get out safely.”

“What do you want with me?

”Derek smiled. “You can probably guess. . . .”

Brian shook his head.

“Well, to make it short, we want you to do it again.”

And so it went!

That’s pretty much the idea. Brian is adjusting well enough, but still dreams of the wilderness. And now he has a chance to go back, so of course he does!

This time, with another along (ish), knives instead of a hatchet, and to a different lake.

Of course, things have to go wrong… And this time Brian finds himself needing to make a raft and go down the titular River to get help.

It’s an interesting enough story, but I feel like there wasn’t quite as much there are in Hatchet? I’m curious what the rest have in store.