The Race: Skwentna; Finger Lake Summary and Analysis

The chapter begins with a foreshadowing event as Gary kneels on the trail with another rookie who is holding a barely breathing dog. The dog shudders and dies as the man curses the bulky form of a moose laying to the side of the trail. Gary checks his watch to see it is not even midnight of the first day. The first day in which he has done everything wrong.

At the restart in Knik, Cookie takes a wrong turn that Gary does not notice because he is busy digging snow from his clothes after being dumped and drug at the previous turn. By the time he gets his head lamp out and realizes they are on the wrong path the team has gone sixty miles out of the way. To compound matters...