Alpha Wolves

Jan 19, 2010 by Naomi.

Some writers, in my estimation, do a better job of tying up a plot in such an intriguing way that I seek other titles by that author. That happened when I read “The Smoke Jumpers” several years past. However it was only yesterday that, while cruising the fiction stacks in my library, I recognized Nicholas Evans and took out “The Loop” and just to be certain I remembered correctly I added the one I’d read before to refresh my memory. He is a Brit whose book “The Horse Whisperer” was acknowledged in weekly TV as a healer that made his work bestsellers in the US.

Though a totally unrelated plot, I found “The Loop” as intriguing as the first and couldn’t put it down so unlike the wolves who were being put down by those who could get their hands on a rifle or some other terrifying killing tool.

Wolves are the entire subject — torn between extinction and protection by the two opposing advocates. The protector was a wolf biologist and the destroyer was a rancher who insisted his purebred herd would be wiped out if any wolf was left alive. He had the wealth and social status to lure many citizens to his way of thinking. The wolf pack was removed to Yellowstone National Park. In the end, the alpha female had been whelping, hidden in a cavern, overlooked in the lethal search. Nevertheless she was later killed even as her pups were beginning to venture for the first time outside the den in full view of the wolfers.

Now you know the whole story and I dare you to analyze the way Nicholas Evans weaves the plot so the major players each are certain they won the day.

Posted in Reviews | No Comments »