Peak tells the story of a boy becoming a man. It begins in New York where Peak Marcello is caught by the police while climbing a skyscraper. He must live with his father who has flown in for the trial. This doesn’t seem so terrible, but his father is a professional rock/mountain climber and is currently climbing Mt. Everest. Through his struggles with the mountain and his father, he tries to complete his goal, which has never been achieved before – a 14-year-old on Everest.

Peak is born to be a climber: body type, mind set, and determination are all qualities that make the best candidate for summiting Everest.

He is opinionated but doesn’t always speak his mind ­because of his circumstances. He sees things differently from others and doesn’t relate well to others during the climb.

When Peak realizes that one of the people who monitors the climb brought his grandson because he is 14 too and trying to summit the mountain like Peak, he sees this as a challenge while other people see Sunjo, the grandson, as an inferior climber trying to sabotage the trip. Most of the climbers are either extremely rich or celebrities who just want to be able to say they climbed Everest.

Peak has to fight his body, his father, himself, and the mountain using sheer will power to summit. He is manipulated by his father whose climbing business is struggling. His father needs Peak to succeed because then his company will have put the youngest person ever on Everest. This is the spark needed to jump-start his business, but Peak doesn’t like that he is ­being used by his own father.

Peak is an exciting novel and a stimulating story. The author keeps you on edge as Peak tries to summit the mountain. Smith has a way of getting her point across with ­excitement and suspense. If you like books full of action and drama, I implore you to read this one.