Mike Delany

The scientist LaGrange invents a machine that generates electricity without fuel. As he escapes to test it, everybody is after him to suppress his invention. When Haywood goes missing and an extensive search is unsuccessful, Hard Case goes to Gus with the only clue to his whereabouts he found. They launch their small rescue mission upriver on the Moose Jaw.

This second entry picks up where the first one ended. Though enjoyable, it did not grab me the same way the first did. Again the passages I found most enjoyable we're those where Gus and Hard Case track in the a Wilderness or their banter. The parts of LaGrange's flight where less enjoyable. The sequence the story is told - event are back filled when Gus and Hard Case have figured out what must have happened - is unusual. There is again an element of the supernatural.

The book can be read as a standalone, but they are best read in order.… (més)

Gus is out of his job and his marriage. He decides to make the best of his newfound freedom and to spend the summer at his newly acquired land parcel on the Moose Jaw creek. With some help from his best friend and hunting/fishing buddy Haywood, he builds himself a cabin. Haywood, a vet and a bush pilot, can stay only a few days at a time, which leaves Gus alone in the wilderness for several weeks.

Shortly after he completes the building of his cabin around the chimney that remains of the old cabin, he finds a young woman stranded and unconscious near his cabin. And there are some unsavory neighbors in the vicinity. Gus nurses her back to health and tries to figure out what happened. Things don't really add up, and then there's the big Grizzly with the distinctive thread...

Partly mystery, partly ghost story, this tale has a wry narrative voice, the description of the building progress and the daily activities - like finding his fishing spot between the bears during the salmon run - really put's you there, all the while you wait for the other shoe to drop. The story develops at a nice pace and leaves you nicely satisfied.

… (més)