(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Sten Stenson, Vietnam veteran and retired school principal, and his wife, Carolee, are on a cruise in Costa Rica when their coach excursion is hijacked. Sten's military training overtakes him and within moments one of the attackers lies dead. The rest flee and Sten finds himself hailed a hero by the tour group and everyone back home.
Meanwhile, in the redwood forests north of San Francisco, Sara - a farrier who refuses to recognize the authority of the government - is arrested after failing to cooperate with police at a routine stop. A chance meeting with twenty-five-year-old Adam, Sten and Carolee's unstable son, sparks a strange but passionate relationship fuelled by a mutual hatred of the law. Adam, an angry and misunderstood outsider, perennially dressed in camouflage and with his head shaved to the bone, has an unhealthy obsession with nineteenth-century mountain man John Colter. As Adam's views and behaviour become steadily more extreme, he descends into a spiral of fanatical violence that is impossible for his family or Sara to halt.
This book starts with a bang...holds it for about 50 pages...and then never reaches those heights again. Which was frustrating as the opening made me feel such expectation that this was finally going to be a book of Boyle's that I could finally enjoy...

The real problem for me is that this book just doesn't really do much. It speaks of the troubles (or percptions of troubles) with crime and violence in America...but doesn't offer anything more than observations and seemingly, a fear that if he delves too far, he may write a completely different story than he had originally envisioned. I would have loved for him to be brave and really follow this book through to a logical conclusion...but, instead, he just kinda focused on the characters rather than the situation.

I can see why people really like this book - the writing style and dialogue are wonderful. But I guess I just wanted more...


Paul
ARH