Title/Author: Beartooth by Callan Wink

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau

Format: audiobook on hoopla
https://www.hoopladigital.com/audiobo...

Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: first time

Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978195411...

Release Date: February 11, 2025

General Genre: Popular Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers & Crime, Literary Fiction, Popular Fiction

Sub-Genre/Themes: Ancient American West History, Family dynamics, Brothers, Loneliness, Yellowstone Park, survival, rural living, poverty, Mothers & sons, grief, crime

Writing Style: compelling, emotional, sparse, intricately plotted, character-driven

What You Need to Know: "Two brothers in dire straits, living on the edge of Yellowstone, agree to a desperate act of survival in this taut, propulsive novel reminiscent of the works of Peter Heller and Donald Ray Pollock."

My Reading Experience: This book is totally outside my usual go-to genres but I have a seriously obsessive affection for well-written stories about brothers who get caught up in something bigger than themselves. Thad and Hazen, both in their late twenties, live near Yellowstone Park, off the grid in their family home. They are struggling to survive with only their father's firewood cutting/delivery service accounts and living off the land.
I loved the dynamic between the two brothers and later, their flighty/estranged mother when she returns to squat on their property in her trailer. The underlying sense of dread made my heart invest in Thad and Hazen so much, it was painful. As soon as The Scott showed up offering some risky deal to make money, I had the worst feeling something bad would happen.
The story is full of wisdom and the author-asides about guilt, loneliness, obligation, brotherly love, pain, and forgiveness. One of my new favorite audiobooks--I always looked forward to my walks so I could listen to this story. I need more just like it.

Final Recommendation: Recommended for readers who enjoy a wilderness setting, deeply emotional family ties/brotherly relationships, strong writing, compelling story, and well-developed characters with distinct personalities and backstories that you helplessly fall in love with.

Comps: To Carry a Body to Its Resting Place by C. S. Humble, The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollock, David Joy books

Look for my review at The LineUp next month

There’s a deep contrast between the stark beauty of Callan Wink’s writing and the visceral nature of what he describes at times in his sublime new novel Beartooth.

A literary rural noir centred on the (mis)adventures of a pair of backwoods brothers, we initially meet Thad, the relative brains of the duo, and younger Hazen, the intuitive one, as they’re elbows deep in an eviscerated bear. Freshly poached, emitting smells “with a flavour of nightmare”; the brothers are willing to get bloody as they grasp for the golf-ball sized gall bladders that can bring in as much cash as ten truckloads of firewood.

But how much would they risk in order to preserve their family home and way of life? Initially Thad doesn’t entertain the notion put forward by their menacing buyer, ‘the Scot’ to surreptitiously enter Yellowstone National Park to harvest elk antler sheds. Federal land and felony crimes = big time prison time. But as things worsen, Thad and Hazen must make some tough choices, that could have deadly consequences.

Those who enjoy ‘grit lit’ are likely to love Beartooth. It’s an atmospheric, vivid and finely crafted tale of family relationships, desperation and death set against a ruggedly magnificent backdrop. Wink, a fly-fishing guide in Montana as well as literary starlet, expertly soaks readers in “nature, red in tooth and claw”. Compact and powerful.

[This review was first written for publication in Good Reading magazine, in Australia]

What happens when a heist goes wrong?
Beartooth is about two brothers, the bond they have and the crime they are persuaded to commit in Yellowstone National Park. This was such a well written book and I could not stop turning pages until the end. I look forward to reading other books from this author. All of the characters in this were wonderful. I highly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any reader who loves fiction or mystery reads. Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for this read in exchange of my honest review of Beartooth by Callan Wink.

This short little book is probably the most visceral I've ever read. It felt like I was THERE in the woods with them. Every detail was distinct, down to smells and feelings.

Taking one star off for the fact that we never find out what happened to the brother?? That was an odd thing not to bring full circle.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beartooth by Callan Wink is a astonishingly descriptive and beautifully written account of working-class life in Montana. The measured pace wasn't always what I wanted but the writing made up for it. I loved this book!

A quietly unnerving tale of two brothers trying to survive in the area outside Yellowstone. The writing is lush, with incredible descriptions of the landscape and its seasonal shifts. It's a story strongly tied to the land and the animals who share it, and the dark side of man who can't seem to share it back.

This book was so many things: part thrilling adventure, historical reflection, coming of age, Jack London but present day. I enjoyed it. It's very character driven. I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this book but believe it was more family drama, literary fiction and coming of age with a hint of mystery than a “thriller” per say. The descriptive writing and images of the setting were excellent.

An interesting, well written story, I loved the way the boys were written, as self-sufficient men of the woods types with their own issues. However it took me a really long time to finish as the story just wasn't my personal cup of tea.

Thank you Spiegel & Grau for allowing me to read and review Beartooth, a novel, by Callan Wink on NetGalley for an honest review.

Published: 02/11/25
Stars: 4.5

Originally my one word opinion was captivating; however, the more I thought about it bewitching became more accurate. Beartooth is a beautifully written story. Time stopped around me once I started reading. I loved every second. The synopsis is on point, there is no need to repeat it.

Wink has taken the characters, their problems, and their lives and dropped me in. There were times I wanted to interject my voice in a conversation. Other times I was a spectator. I stayed glued to my seat comfortably and was thoroughly satisfied with the ending.

I can't recall if there is profanity.

Today I find myself tearing up, smiling and wanting to reminisce with the story again.

This will make a nice basket gift with the book, cheese, and wine.

I'm looking forward to exploring other works by the author.

4.75/5 stars

I'm so glad I read this book. I went in kind of "iffy", not knowing what to expect. A family drama? A woodsy (perhaps dangerous) adventure? The truth is it contained both of those things with some added depth that made it linger with me after I'd finished reading it.

The author did a good job with the descriptive writing regarding the location which is set off the grid in the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains just on the cusp of Yellowstone. I easily visualized the rural cabin and surrounding woods as well as the activities the brothers (Thad and Hazen) must accomplish to survive while also trying to pay overdue bills since their father's death.

Thad (the eldest) and Hazen were the main focus for me, and their interactions, both good and bad, were the meat of the story. This is not a fast-paced story (though it is on the shorter side). It's a dysfunctional family drama revolving around the relationship dynamics between the brothers, their similarities and differences and a little delving into their basically non-existent relationship with their mother who makes a sudden appearance during the story.

This is one of those settle back and savor sort of books. Beautiful writing, poignant story, some laughing and perhaps some crying. The ending was a bit cryptic, but also understandable as it went with the feel of the story itself.

Very nicely done.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Spiegel and Grau for providing the free early arc of Beartooth for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Published by Spiegel & Grau on February 11, 2025

Combine a crime novel with a wilderness adventure and you get a different kind of thriller. Beartooth also differs from most in its emphasis on characterization without sacrificing plot.

Thad and Hazen are brothers who live in Montana. Their grandfather purchased land adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. Their father recently died, leaving behind hospital bills that his sons can’t pay. They also haven’t paid property taxes in several years and are facing foreclosure.

Thad and Hazen earn income by cutting down trees on their property and chopping them into firewood. They supplement their legal income with the illegal practice of hunting bears and selling their gallbladders to a man they know as the Scot. The Scot refers to a young girl who travels with him as his daughter, but there is clearly something off about their relationship. The Scot is known as a dangerous man, having shot a sixteen-year-old boy who may or may not have been trying to break into his gun safe.

The Scot tells the brothers that he has a market for Elk antlers. Elk shed their antlers and Yellowstone is full of them, but it’s illegal to remove them. Thad worries that it isn’t possible to haul large numbers out of the park without Park Rangers noticing. There is a limit, after all, to the number they can carry on their backs, and the Scot wants a mountain of them.

When Thad learns that the brothers are about to lose their land to satisfy their tax debt, he makes a plan to retrieve a hundred sheds and float them out of the park on rafts at night. Navigating rapids in the dark is harrowing, adding tension to a fast-moving story. Beartooth turns into a crime novel of sorts when, shortly after Hazen disappears, the girl the Scot calls his daughter disappears.

Thad and Hazen were homeschooled until high school. Thad is the smarter brother. He “wished his brother was a different way. Someone he could talk with. Formulate a plan with.” He’s always been protective of the simpler Hazen. Thad keeps Hazen from drinking too much and getting into barfights. With Hazen, what you see is what you get. “Some people can behave in certain ways that are against the grain of their actual makeup. Hazen is incapable of doing that,” says Thad.

Their “sporadic mother,” Sacajawea, left after teaching them to read Where the Wild Things Are out loud. “In her absences their father picked up where she’d left off. He taught them as best he could, emphasizing areas in which he had some level of expertise, glossing over subjects that had never interested him.” Sacajawea resurfaces and makes herself comfortable in the home her father built. Her backstory and wisdom make an important contribution to the story.

Beartooth spotlights the kind of lives that most novels overlook. The brothers live backbreaking lives of labor, but they feel a fundamental connection to the land and its resources. Their parents haven’t given them much of a foundation, although they occasionally wonder how their father would feel about gutting bear for their gallbladders. The boys don’t have any use for the politics of environmentalism — they don’t understand why sheds should be left to rot on the ground where they fall when they can be turned into chandeliers and sold to people who have more money than they need — and they’re willing to transgress the law for the sake of survival, but they care about each other and have no desire to harm others. Their shared desire is to be left alone.

The story’s strength lies in the growing conflict between the brothers. Thad becomes frustrated with Hazen and with his role as Hazen’s protector. Yet when Thad is injured, he comes to understand that he has always underestimated his brother. Hazen’s disappearance motivates Thad to reconsider his own life. The reader will get a sense of where Hazen might have gone after Thad discovers a clue that Hazen left behind — a clue that will change Thad’s life.

It's rare to find a novel that proceeds with the pace of a thriller but finds ways to excite the reader’s interest without falling back on the tired themes of action novels. Two strong characters in conflict with each other despite their mutual love give Beartooth its heart, while the Montana wilderness contributes an atmosphere that anchors the story in a memorable setting.

RECOMMENDED

This definitely checks my box for an atmospheric novel. I loved how descriptive he was with the nature of Montana. His prose drew me in. Not a Heller or McCarthy, but very few ever will be.

This was another story about the bond between two men struggling to survive (seems to be a common theme in my reading). While the story was interesting and enjoyable, I didn't think it was anything particularly special about it. I did not care for the poaching and the disturbing ancient burial grounds and collecting their artifacts to simply be kept in a basement. This abhorrent behavior, didn't endear me to these characters who I believe the authors intention was that I should feel some ownership of these brothers.

I do wish he'd gone more in-depth describing "the job": it could have been such a larger part of the story and lived up to the excitement and thrill that such an adventure deserves.

And the ending? Wholly unsatisfying. So many unanswered questions: Who was the girl to the Scot?
I would read another book by this author, I'm hoping this is not his best work. But it was at least a mostly enjoyable quick read.

My thanks to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Two brothers doing what it takes to survive in the wilderness of the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains. I’m seeing comparisons to Peter Heller which is close but I think this is better.

This is a short novel but kind of a slow burn of a story. Two brothers live in a leaking cabin near Yellowstone Park. Their father recently passed away and the young men try to figure out how to get by in the world. Their irresponsible mother shows with her kombucha and crystals, and surprisingly pays off the overdue tax lien on the property. It’s mostly about whether the boys want to commit crimes to get by, or just sell firewood like their father. The depth of the story (much like Lonesome Dove) is in the relationships between the two young men and the difference in their personalities. The older brother is more practical and accepts any help he receives, while the younger brother is more impulsive.

In the Big Sky, Beartooth mountains of Montana, two brothers, Thad and Hazen, are trying their best to make life work after the death of their father. One of them is more responsible than the other. Life is hard in the great outdoors -- made even more difficult by the loss of their parents -- their mom had abandoned them early on in life. As she comes back into their lives, explaining her multiple absences, we see them struggling through forgiveness.

The story is completely atmospheric -- Yellowstone's views almost a character itself.
I think I expected more in terms of actual plot -- it missed some oomph for me -- it was a slow build that never quite made it to the top -- BUT, it had some pretty colors along the way. "The sound of the river pulses in an arterial manor."... "The human vascular system resembled the drainages of mountains...the branching prongs of a lightening strike."

3.5 rounded down.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review!

Really good read. Loved the characters and plot. Intense and in-depth look into the lives of 2 brothers and the hardships they encounter .

Beartooth tells the story of two brothers, Thad and Hazen, living in the isolated Beartooth Mountains of Montana. There are bears and elk antlers and poachers. This was a satisfying read. The author is talented in composition and description. I read both the ebook and the audiobook. The narrator of the audiobook was exceptional. Not the most positive portrayal of women or most men I suppose, but an interesting story worth reading reflecting on family and American heritage.
Thanks to NetGalley, Spiegel and Grau, and Spiegel and Grau for Spotify Audiobooks for the advanced copies to review!

Wink's second novel is an engrossing drama about two brothers who are barely making ends meet; they're certainly not strangers to bending the law to earn cash. They're approached by a man who is offering a huge payout, one that could take all of their problems away . . . but the heist he has in mind might land the brothers in jail for a long, long time.

Rugged, outdoorsy, and oozing manliness - this one is a winner for C.J. Box/Paul Doiron/William Kent Krueger fans. Animal lovers may want to steer clear, however, as bad things happen to wildlife.

I'm definitely ordering this one for the library.

When you open Beartooth, by Callan Wink, you find yourself in the world of Thad and Hazen, two brothers in Montana who are doing whatever it takes to survive.

We begin with the killing of a bear out of season. Wink’s talent is obvious from the start. We imagine the rancid stink he eloquently describes and we want more of it. We aren't wanting for long.

It's a great entrance into the rugged and gritty reality tucked into those corners of America that city folks read about in idealized pastorals.

Thad is the more mature brother, more head-smart. Hazen is a bit of a dumbass but in the charming kind of way that entertains you and hints that there's more going on under the surface. As the narrative unfolds you'll find that these two compliment each other well.

These brothers are shaped and molded to and by the land. In a sense, they're where they belong. But they need to make money and it isn't always easy. They're harvesting bears right now but a lucrative offer comes their way from a man known as The Scot.

This larger-than-life character reminds us of The Judge in Blood Meridian. In a similar way we want more of him even though we can sense and feel his danger. We can't help it.

The lucrative offer? Simple, provide elk antlers for an Amish guy who makes giant chandeliers out of them. It doesn't take long for Thad to turn it down, it's timely or risky and you can't get enough in a short amount of time. But Hazen knows a way.

You can find them all over the place in Yellowstone. It's a terrible idea. But, it might be their only opportunity to get paid.

With tightly packed descriptions and a keen sense of place, Wink has managed to fit a sweeping narrative into about 250 pages.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Looking to escape whatever city you're stuck in right now? Open this up and you'll be able to safely spend some time in a beautiful and unforgiving wilderness you're probably unprepared for in real life.