Tooth and Claw is the twenty-fifth volume in the Sheriff Walter Longmire series—and like the Hillermans’ Leaphorn/Chee novels, I’ve read and enjoyed every volume. Tooth and Claw doesn’t disappoint. Though it is quite short at 208 pages, it packs a whallop of non-stop action and danger into those pages. It is a flashback of sorts, the story being told by Henry Standing Bear to a friend at their usual Tuesday night chess game.
Just after returning home from the war in Vietnam, Walt is working in Alaska as security for an oil company and feels emotionally frayed. Henry comes to visit, and they end up escorting a US Geological Survey scientist who’s studying ice worms. Because of the threat of polar bear attacks, they tag along to provide security. During a sudden severe weather storm, they are trapped overnight on the open tundra and are hunted by a polar bear who moves quickly and silently and seems to kill for pleasure. There is a constant sense of dread regarding the polar bear, which is enhanced by bone-chilling cold, the twenty-hours of night, and a plot full of twists. Not to mention companions on this journey who have hidden agendas. Henry is clawed by the bear, and for a change, Walt rescues him. If you’ve read any of the series, you understand how the role reversal here.
Despite the bleak landscape and the pulse-pounding terror, this is also a humorous book.
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Tooth and Claw(Viking, November 19, 2024) is available through:
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