SO GOOD. So glad to read a genuinely good book after a lot of less satisfying ones. I hope this guy writes another one soon. I think this was his first. He reminds me of Charles Frazier but it might have just been the setting mostly, and also the solitary male main character becoming one with nature etc etc. What a great book. ( )

A better than average “mystery “ ( okay thriller, maybe) it’s blend of the natural world with intense human violence was a bit much for me. One minute I’m thinking about cicadas and mushroom hunters and the next minute the cast of deliverance drops in for a torture party. The sexual violence is at leSt offstage, but it made me uncomfortable to? However, held my interest and overall a good read ( )

This book provides a wonderful combination of observations on the natural world, a flawed but likeable main character, a complex plot, and erudite writing. It contains a diverse assortment of topics that the author skillfully weaves together into a cohesive story: old growth forests, ecology, herpetology, bear behavior, hunting dogs, federal and local law enforcement, drug cartels, even ghillie suits!

Rice, the main character, originally a biologist from the desert southwest, has become caretaker of a wilderness preserve in the Appalachians. He is trying to start a new life under a pseudonym to elude a Mexican drug cartel. When he discovers carcasses of black bears on the preserve, paws severed, and gallbladders removed, he attempts to entrap the poachers, putting him up against a black-market ring. Rice is edgy, easily startled by the animals that surround him, but has a wry sense of humor about it. He develops an affection for the natural habitat and comes to appreciate the solitude, though it occasionally affects his state of mind.

“The giant trees were like dormant gods, vibrating with something he couldn’t name, not quite sentience, each one different from the others, each telling its own centuries-long story. On the forest floor, chestnut logs dead since the blight had rotted into chest-high berms soft with thick mosses, whispering quietly. Something called out and he turned to face a looming tulip tree, gnarled and bent like an old man, hollowed out by rot, lightning, ancient fires. His skin tingled.”

The people of the area are much more nuanced than the usual stereotypes. The contrasts between wealthy and impoverished people add another dimension to the story. For example, the preserve is owned by a family’s charitable foundation, and some locals resent that the natural resources cannot be used to support the regional economy.

I found this book entertaining and educational. It will appeal to readers of mysteries and thrillers that like a complex storyline, appreciate richly detailed writing, and have an affinity for the natural world. If you want non-stop action and lots of twists and turns, look elsewhere.
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"Bearskin" is a rare find: a literary thriller that is as lyrical as it is muscular.

Instead of choosing between writing a literary book about how a man can surrender himself to the dark sentience of an ancient forest and walk out more himself than he was before or a thriller about a man deeply maimed by violence who, although living an almost invisible life in the wilds, knows his past will catch up with him, James McLaughlinhas written a book that is both a literary achievement and a page-turning, viscerally realistic thriller.

Two things caught and kept my attention in throughout this book: the development of Rice Moore, the man at the heart of the story and the sometimes total immersion into the ancient Appalachian forest. Either one would have been reason enough to read this book. Together they became compelling.

Rice Moore is a great creation. Recent acts of extreme violence against him and by him have left him emotionally scarred and subject to fugues states and hallucinations. A solitary man who no longer entirely trusts himself to play well with others, he seeks isolation, partly to hide from his enemies and partly to avoid people. Alone in the forest, feeling its pulse next to his own, his inability to let go of his territoriality or his instinct for violence, repeatedly draws him into conflict with the people around him.

Yet this isn't a one-man-triumphs-against-the-world sort of story. Moore is losing his mind. His fugue states, his obsession with protecting the black bears on the estate he is warden of and his personal ghosts, lead him down a path where he literally puts on another skin and enters a different kind of consciousness. James McLaughlin's ability to help me experience this altering of states as something real and raw was deeply impressive.

Even though "Bearskin" is as fast-paced and propulsive as a thriller needs to be, McLaughlin is able to incorporate the forest and its fauna and fauna as a deeply experienced part of the story. Ecology is more than a plot device or a scientific concept here, it is about understanding our place in the world and its rhythms.

In addition to these two strong themes, McLaughlin gives us an insight into the poaching of black bears, the vengeance of the Mexican drug cartels and the rules and rituals of outlaw motorcycle clubs and an up-close experience of violence that is hard to look away from.

I recommend the audiobook version of "Bearskin" as MacLeod Andrews' narration enhanced my experience of the book.

Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.

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Brutal, beautiful prose, a primal and almost phantasmagoric view of nature. ( )