Ghost Bear - by James A McLaughlin (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From Edgar Award winning-author James McLaughlin, a mesmerizing literary thriller set in Virginian Appalachia, about the caretaker of a forest preserve and the poacher who calls in a desperate debt

Rice Moore thought he was done with trouble. After finally shaking the Mexican cartel that long hunted him and successfully shutting down a bear poaching scheme, Rice is ready to settle into his role as caretaker of the Turk Mountain Preserve. He is closer than ever with his best friend, Sara, the preserve's biologist, and has started seeing the receptionist at the local sheriff's office. So when his former enemy, ex-Marine bear poacher Alan Mirra, calls in an old debt, Rice agrees to help him hide out in the preserve. Rice and Mirra settle into a rhythm and maybe even a kind of combative friendship, bonded by grudging mutual respect and their love of the wild.

But Rice soon learns that he is harboring a fugitive: Mirra gunned down a federal agent and is on the run. What's more, the connection Rice has always felt for the forest has been deepening into something all-consuming. He is haunted by visions of a burning world and a towering ghost bear. Mirra is having the same visions, visions that push both men to the edge of sanity and erode their precarious trust. Sara can tell Rice is keeping a dangerous secret, one that threatens all of them. Can Rice keep his promise to Mirra while protecting the place and people he most loves? And does Mirra have one more surprise up his sleeve?

Review Quotes

"Gripping and powerful, McLaughlin's writing pulls you in from the very first sentence and drops you into a world of mountain lions, hibernating rattlesnakes, and extinct bears. Ghost Bear is at once a timely exploration of what it means to be human in a world that predates us and an action-packed story of reprisals and redemption. Fans of Charlotte McConaghy and S.A. Cosby, this one's for you!"
--Lauren Nossett, award-winning author of Indie Darling

"Ghost Bear is beautifully written, oftentimes brutal, and always deeply compelling; a story of one wounded man's complicated relationship with his fellow man and with nature. Mclaughlin's lyrical prose perfectly juxtaposes the cruelty that humans inflict on one another with the mystical beauty of the natural world. Stunning!"
--Karen Dionne, author of the #1 international bestseller The Marsh King's Daughter and The Wicked Sister