Bearskin: A Novel
Written by James A. McLaughlin
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews
4/5
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About this audiobook
“Bearskin is visceral, raw, and compelling—filled with sights, smells, and sounds truly observed. It’s a powerful debut and an absolute showcase of exceptional prose. There are very few first novels when I feel compelled to circle brilliant passages, but James McLaughlin’s writing had me doing just that.” —C.J. Box, #1 NYT bestselling author of The Disappeared
Rice Moore is just beginning to think his troubles are behind him. He’s found a job protecting a remote forest preserve in Virginian Appalachia where his main responsibilities include tracking wildlife and refurbishing cabins. It’s hard work, and totally solitary—perfect to hide away from the Mexican drug cartels he betrayed back in Arizona. But when Rice finds the carcass of a bear killed on the grounds, the quiet solitude he’s so desperately sought is suddenly at risk.
More bears are killed on the preserve and Rice’s obsession with catching the poachers escalates, leading to hostile altercations with the locals and attention from both the law and Rice’s employers. Partnering with his predecessor, a scientist who hopes to continue her research on the preserve, Rice puts into motion a plan that could expose the poachers but risks revealing his own whereabouts to the dangerous people he was running from in the first place.
James McLaughlin expertly brings the beauty and danger of Appalachia to life. The result is an elemental, slow burn of a novel—one that will haunt you long after you hears the final words.
Editor's Note
Taut thriller…
In this taut thriller, Rice Moore takes a job in a remote forest preserve in Virginia, only to come up against bears, poachers, and a cartel in his quest to stay alive. The vivid detail makes you feel like you’re right on the mountain with the bears and the bees and other critters.
James A. McLaughlin
James A. McLaughlin holds law and MFA degrees from the University of Virginia. His fiction and essays have appeared in The Missouri Review, The Portland Review, River Teeth, and elsewhere. He grew up in rural Virginia and lives in the Wasatch Range east of Salt Lake City, Utah.
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Reviews for Bearskin
198 ratings25 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Phe. Nom. Enol. One of the best stories ive listened to in a long time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thrilling and engaging. I haven’t enjoyed a book in a long time but I loved this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful descriptions of the natural landscape made this book enjoyable.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Well written juxtaposition of geography, contemporary social problems and believable characters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Interesting environmental information wrapped up in Sensitive-Handsome-Hero just trying to live in the moment.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent novel. Love McLaughlin's voice. I'm looking forward to reading more by this masterful writer.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a really good book. I could see this being a very cool Netflix series or something. Makes me want to go wander in the woods. Can’t wait to see where James is going to go with his next novel.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Splendid and thought provoking. Listened to this as I commuted from my home in the north Georgia mountains to Atlanta. Hope they don’t ruin this story by trying to make it a motion picture.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Its really very helpful, thanks for sharing this information with us.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The whole book was very good!! I enjoyed it very much.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It was a good story. Sometimes the author spent what felt like hours just discussing the scenery. But overall a good story and read/listen.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rice Moore, haunted ex-con finds what he hopes will be a fresh start when he gets a job protecting a remote wildlife preserve in the Appalachian mountains. It's a strange, quiet place steeped in tradition and respect for ones neighbors. Rice runs into trouble when a nameless wandering scavenger shows him to the site of a butchered bear.There is a thriving black market in bear parts and it appears that someone has chosen to monetize the animals that Rice has been charged with protecting. At first he thinks it'll be a simple matter of scaring off a few poachers, but he soon finds himself drawn into a life and death conflict with murderous gang. He'll have to navigate the suspicions of law enforcement, the hatred of locals, and the black malice of the unknown persons sent to do away with him. A grim tale of vigilante justice and one man's struggle to carve out a new life for himself in an unwelcoming environment.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this book! A lot like a Cormac Mcarthy (sp?) book as far as mood and setting. I hope there are other books by this author.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Masterfully written and beautifully read. A new favourite. The imagery was dreamy, the story a slow build to a worthy end.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brutal, beautiful prose, a primal and almost phantasmagoric view of nature.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Drug lords meet the forest ranger?
It was tedious at times, LOTS of violence, but an interesting premise. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I was given this book, which is not at all my usual fare. It was fairly well-written, well-paced, and with pretty good character development. The ending, though, was too sudden and not explained well enough. A device of alternating chapters: Virginia and then Mexico, would have worked better to my mind, although I guess the people who determine the Edgar Award for best first novel might not agree with me.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Combine a cast that includes tree-hugging biologists, a man escaping from Mexican drug cartels, and red-neck hunters from Virginia, this well-deserves the 2019 Edgar Award for First Novel. Its tense up to nearly the last minute as a caretake for a private reserve tries to track down who is hunting bear for the paws and gall bladders. I thought I had the resolution figured out but I was very wrong.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I don't read many thrillers, and I doubt I've given many 5 stars to those I've read, but BEARSKIN is special. The writing is descriptive, captivating, and succinct. Every word seems to be there for a specific purpose and the language is sometimes beautiful, sometimes harsh. The reader gets drawn into Rice Moore's world and into his mind. This book is not only for readers that enjoy a "what will happen next" storyline, but a novel that is told in an extraordinary way.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rice Moore gets a job to help preserve a forest reserve in the mountains of Virginia. There has been a lot of poaching of bears to get their gall bladders and paws used for different purposes in Asia. Rice is challenged to protect them but he also has a criminal past in prior times along the Mexican border. that will come back to haunt him.. This is a gritty book supported by the author's vast knowledge of outdoor life and guns. Well worth reading.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/52019 Edgar Award for Best First NovelReview of the Ecco paperback (2018) edition.I didn't get through all of the 2019 Edgar Award nominees for Best First Novel, but Bearskin definitely stood out for its atmospheric woodlands setting and its two leads, so I wasn't surprised that it was the Edgar Award winner on April 25, 2019. It didn't quite break into 5-star territory as the ending felt a bit too rushed, with some of the retribution taking place off the page, but otherwise this was very compelling suspenseful reading. I'll certainly be interested in James McLaughlin's follow-up novel.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This book just didn't work for me. Too many half told stories, half formed plot lines.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful debut novel. The author creates a nature treatise wrapped in a suspense story. The language generates the atmosphere and the perfect word is well chosen; where else have you seen umwelt or minatory in a novel lately? Don't know how I missed this when it came out last year, great read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Highly recommended. Beautifully written, skillfully plotted, psychologically complex. At one point the tension was so intense that I had to put it down for a while. I was bereft when I finished it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I continue to be amazed at the quality of the writing from so many debut authors. This book is Mr. McLaughlin's first, and it as perfect a thriller as you will come across. The writing is literate, and the descriptions of the beautiful Appalachian mountains in and around the state of Virginia are breathtaking. And at the same time McLaughlin manages to pen a thriller that will keep you tearing up the pages as you race to get through the book. In this book we meet Rice Monroe, a man with a very colourful past, and a man on the run from some very serious bad guys. As his job is park warden, he takes it very seriously when he spots poached bears on his forest preserve.The bears are gutted and all their paws are cut off. Rice knows its being done for blackmarket bear parts which are sold to people in Asia for a very tidy sum. Little does he realize that poached bear parts leads to the end of his anonymity and the discovery of his whereabouts, and he is trying to stay alive in the dark and brooding forests of Turpin Mountains, where his survival skills as well as his knowledge of the mountain gives him a little advantage in his fight for his life. Highly recommended.