Synopses & Reviews
Bill Reed manages a wildlife sanctuary in rural Idaho, caring for injured animals--raptors, a wolf, and his beloved bear, Majer, among them--that are unable to survive in the wild. Seemingly rid of his troubled past, Bill hopes to marry the local veterinarian and live a quiet life together, the promise of which is threatened when a childhood friend is released from prison. Suddenly forced to confront the secrets of his criminal youth, Bill battles fiercely to preserve the shelter that protects these wounded animals and to keep hidden his turbulent, even dangerous, history. Alternating between past and present, Christian Kiefer contrasts the wreckage of Bill's crime-ridden years in Reno, Nevada, with the elusive promise of a peaceful future. In finely sculpted prose imaginatively at odds with the harsh, volatile world Kiefer evokes, builds powerfully toward the revelation of Bill's defining betrayal--and the drastic lengths Bill goes to in order to escape the consequences.
Review
"In , Christian Kiefer has created an unusual and compelling amalgam of noir classic--a man's past comes back to haunt him--and the lyrical extended metaphor in the form of the North Idaho Animal Rescue, where his main character finds refuge and purpose. This tough-minded thriller weaves a hot red thread through an introspective, sensuous landscape, a meditation on instinct, memory and the nature of friendship between species and between men." Josh Weil Barnes & Noble Review
Review
"A rare young stylist, with an abundance of vivid, engrossing stories in his brain; Christian Kiefer is a genuine find." Richard Ford
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"Every once in a while, a book moves me to tears with the grace of its prose, the depth and humanity of its characters, and the ferocity of its singular vision. Christian Kiefer's is such a book: a startling and beautiful novel about friendship, grief, and the urge to start over, to be blameless. I loved it." Josh Weil Barnes & Noble Review
Review
"Kiefer creates a wilderness for us in these pages with as sure a hand as any god. All of life's hardest questions are put to us with such confidence we do not see the hand at work. is beyond a pleasure to read."" Janet Fitch, author of Paint it Black and White Oleander
Review
"This novel came at me like some creature of the wild, caught my breath and rushed my heart and filled me with awe and wonder and gratitude at having witnessed it. From prose that made me want to linger to a story that ripped me ever forward, is simply that good. With it, Christian Kiefer proves himself that rarest of writers, one who matches an artist's brave vision with a craftsman's sure hand. I was blown away--and am still haunted--by this beautiful, masterful book." Josh Weil, author of The Great Glass Sea
Review
"Stretched out on a sun-warmed rock on the most beautiful river I know, on one of the last warm days high in the Sierras, a beer cooling in the water, a galley of Christian Kiefer's in my hands six months before the book hits the shelves, no one around to hear me over the roaring water: my exclamations of awe and jealousy at each moment of masterful craftsmanship those pages contain." Booklist
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"A mesmerizing literary thriller... there's a thrilling story line that builds in momentum to an inevitable denouement, paced by prose that's poetic without ever succumbing to preciousness. This is a compelling, thoughtful novel." Publishers Weekly
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"Eloquent and shattering, this novel explores, in gritty detail, how penance sometimes does not lead to redemption, a modern take on the story of Eden. Kiefer is a master wordsmith, and his dense and beautiful language intensifies the pain and isolation of the main character... Devastatingly beautiful. This novel embodies why we write and why we read." Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Review
"[] build[s] to a violent, illuminating climax. Amid the wild backdrop of a blizzard-wracked Idaho winter, Kiefer weaves loyalty, self-destruction, and survival into a story that's equal doses of raging suspense and thought-provoking gray areas. A great choice for mystery and literary-fiction book groups." Christine Tran
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"Christian Kiefer is a philosopher surgeon, and his work is an exquisite dissection of the human heart. On his operating table, you'll find an array of loves, a pile of guilt, and even hope. But under his scalpel pulses an entirely new kind of fear. is dark and strange, and beats with a familiar urgency. The cold of a forest in winter collides with the heat of a wild bear, the sharp dialogue of men in extremity crackles against the silence of a secret, and laughter will rush through tears for readers of this American masterpiece." Tom Lavoie Shelf Awareness
Review
"Outstanding... The juxtaposition of Kiefer's portrayal of past with present, the lost with the found, and a life without love with one filled with it gives this novel great depth and feeling... Exquisitely wrought prose combined with a contemporary noir thriller create a heartbreaking tale of one man's quest for redemption." Tupelo Hassman, author of Girlchild
Review
"Kiefer... is a gifted stylist unafraid of writing on the edge of sentiment.... Beautifully written... moves at a heart-quickening pace, and the counterpointed stories frequently intersect and gather a fierce momentum... The book is not just a galloping great read; it's a violent, tender, terrifying, genuine work of art." Janet Fitch, author of Paint it Black and White Oleander
Review
"Don't let get past you.... It's a haunting, darkly exquisite piece of rural noir that will chill you from its somewhat sedate beginning to its apocalyptic-like ending.... I couldn't read the novel fast enough, yet there were passages that I made myself read over and over again. You must read what is sure to be on many 'Best of' lists for 2015." Porter Shreve San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"The deep, dense prose Kiefer uses makes you slow down and take it all in. Word by word and sentence by sentence, Kiefer reels the reader into his world." Joe Hartlaub Bookreporter.com
Synopsis
For fans of Denis Johnson and Peter Matthiessen, a literary thriller from one of the most exciting new voices in American fiction.
About the Author
Christian Kiefer teaches at the American River College in Sacramento, California, where he lives with his wife and six sons. He is the author of The Infinite Tides, and his poetry has appeared in various publications.