Survivors: A Hidden Enemy (Book 2) by Erin Hunter

 

In my job as a guest teacher I am often assigned the task of shelving books in the school library. It is in this role that I first found this book- or rather its sister series called “Warriors.” In my other role as library mom (to my own children) I peruse the shelves of the used books at our local library. These are sold for 1$ each generally and sometimes there are real gems on the shelf (like the hard copy of Williams Sonoma Slow Cooker cookbook- I told my family someone got that for Christmas years ago and finally donated it to the library after using it once at most) This book was purchased for 1$ from our library “recycled” books. That is why I am reading book #2 before book #1. And- in this series that seems to work. There is some of the back story I am missing but it isn’t critical to understanding the major plot and theme of this book.

This book follows mainly two packs of dogs- the leashed dogs and the wild dogs. Both packs are trying to forge for food and water in a part of the forest infected by some contaminant. Lucky is a dog with ties to both packs- he considers himself a lone dog. His litter mate is part of the leashed dogs- former city dogs who have come together in the wild. This group of dogs doesn’t have a strict hierarchy and they seem to live together in harmony without much structure. 

In the opening scenes of the book the two packs of dogs are fighting over clean water. The wild dogs attack the leashed dogs who are drinking in what they deem their territory. It is in this fight that Lucky and Sweet reunite. Their connection was a “Trap house” in which they both escaped as lone dogs- and Lucky states he thought Sweet would never find a pack. But yet there she is fighting with one of the toughest and wildest packs around- and they are winning.

The plot of the book moves fast and would seem appealing to a young reader- Lucky is enticed into spying for his litter mate Bella of the leashed dogs. He joins the wild dogs and becomes part of their hierarchical structure.   All seems well until Lucky is blackmailed about his double role by a wild dog at the bottom of the hierarchy and Sweet betrays him by using the information he supplied to attack the wild dogs in retaliation for their previous defeat. 

Especially at the end the plot is grippingly a page turner and ends with Lucky’s ultimate betrayal to the alpha member of the wild dogs- and surely death. But…..we end on a cliffhanger not really knowing what happens to Lucky and wanting to purchase the third book in the series.