Chris McAsey

I think this novel is over-hyped and over-rated. The relationship berween the two main characters (brother and sister) is the only thibg of interest and they are not speaking for large sections of the book. Otherwise there is endless, and not particularly interesting description of landcape and a pursuit of a killer puma. Other characters come and go without really adding much to the narrative. It's all just very boring. Dialogue is both forced and bland and doesn't have the ring of truth, particularly a pointless exchange between the sister and a wise old first nations woman. Prose.. I've heard others rave about this but to me there was waaay too much telling, and not enough showing. I was primed to love this novel and it gradually dawned on me that it was over-hyoed tripe. The climax is almost laughable, reads like YA fiction or a university fiction writing assignment. Puma's about to get her / him... No wait, there's a guy with a sedative-loaded gun... Just found one of my favourite paragraphs: 'Iris knew nothing about catching pumas, but if one wanted somewhere that offered both cover and good lines of sight, this place seemed ideal...'