Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Release Date: February 20, 2024
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Mystery & Suspense
In The Boy Who Cried Bear, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong keeps readers on the edge of their seats while detective Casey Duncan tries to locate the threat before it’s too late. . .
.png)
Casey
“Bigfoot,” Anders whispers in my ear. “I can’t believe we’re searching for Bigfoot. This is so cool.”
I glare at our deputy. Anders only grins back and waggles his brows.
“I’m joking,” he says, his voice still low enough for only me to hear. “I wouldn’t say that in front of anyone else. Poor kid’s been through hell. If I were him, I’d be too damn scared to go into the forest at all. Hell, sometimes I am too damn scared, and I’ve been living out here for six years.”
Looking at Will Anders, it’d be hard to believe anything could frighten him. He’s over six feet tall and built like a quarterback. An army tattoo on his biceps speaks to an early career in the military police. But, yes, despite his years in Rockton, he’s not entirely comfortable in the forest, as evidenced by the big .45 at his hip. Dalton and I carry smaller guns and accept that we aren’t likely to stop a grizzly. Anders hedges his bets in any way he can.
An hour ago, ten-year-old Max saw something on a hike. It seems to have been a grizzly. Max described a tall brown-furred creature, which is also what Gunnar saw. But Max swears when the beast looks at him, it has human eyes. So, yes, that naturally leads to jokes about Bigfoot. Jokes that I know Anders would never make in front of other residents. Jokes that we need to ensure other residents don’t start making themselves, in case Max overhears. He’d already admitted he’d been reluctant to report hearing something after a similar incident turned up nothing.
Max is a smart kid. He’s also a kid suffering from PTSD. Being smart and traumatized means he’s aware that he might be jumpy, and he doesn’t want to be the boy who cried bear. But worrying about that led to a situation where a group of hikers had been stalked by a grizzly, and the only one who noticed had second-guessed himself until it was almost too late.
“Fuck.”
I follow the curse to the guy standing off to my left. Sheriff Eric Dalton. My partner in … well, everything. Husband, colleague, best friend, and co-founder of Haven’s Rock, our tiny sanctuary town in the Yukon.
The curse makes me smile. He’s been trying to cut back on profanity, particularly his affinity for every variation of that particular word. I’m mostly just amused by his efforts.
Dalton strides over with brown hairs pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
“Moose, right?” I say, half joking, half hoping.
He shakes his head. That curse told me what I needed to know. It’s grizzly fur.
“Storm was right then,” I say, patting our Newfoundland. She’s our tracking dog, or that was the excuse Dalton used for buying me my dream-breed puppy. We have trained her in tracking, though, and her reaction earlier told me we weren’t dealing with a moose. She smelled bear.
“Any prints?” Anders asks.
“Ground’s too dry. Found a couple of scuff marks, but all I can tell from them is that they’re big and they aren’t hoofprints. Got a few broken branches. Bit of trampled undergrowth. And this”—he lifts the fur—“four feet off the ground.”
“Shit.” Anders casts an anxious glance around. “That’s a problem, right? A grizzly stalking a group of six. It should know better.”
“We’re lucky Max noticed it,” I say.
“Yeah, it’s good he noticed, but I’m not sure they were in real danger. Bear was looking for an opportunity. Would it have attacked if Gunnar and Max had fallen behind for longer? Or was it just getting closer for a better look?” Dalton shrugs. “Hard to say. The fact it fled is a good sign.”
“It’s still a concern,” I say.
“Hell, yeah. The question is how to play it. In Rockton, I’d have leaned in hard. Possible man-eating grizzly on the loose. No one takes a single step outside town until we’ve dealt with it. Scare the shit out of people.”
“But we have children in town now, children who’ve already been traumatized.”
Haven’s Rock is a well-hidden town surrounded by forest. And it’s supposed to be, being that it’s a refuge for those who need to disappear. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton already feel at home in their new town, which reminds them of where they first met in Rockton. And while they know how to navigate the woods and its various dangers, other residents don’t. Which is why people aren't allowed to wander off alone.
When Max, the town’s youngest resident—taught to track animals by Eric—fears a bear is stalking a hiking party, alarms are raised. Even stranger, the ten-year-old swears the bear had human eyes. Casey and Eric know the dangers a bear can present, so they’re taking it seriously. But odd occurrences are happening all around them, and when a dead body turns up, they’re not sure what they’re up against.
Kelley Armstrong's The Boy Who Cried Bear is the Second installment in the Haven's Rock series which is a spin-off of the author's Rockton series. Haven’s Rock is a well-hidden town surrounded by forest deep in the Yukon. It’s supposed to be a refuge for those who need to disappear or are in witness protection. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton already feel at home in their new town, which reminds them of where they first met in Rockton. They should, they've put a lot of effort and time into finding a permanent home.
Some former Rockton residents like Casey's sister April, Mathias, Kendra, Isabel, Kenny, Anders, and Phil have also come to Haven's along with Yolanda, who is the granddaughter of the woman who has helped Casey and Eric create this town and do background checks on anyone sent here. Casey and Eric know how to navigate the woods and its various dangers, other residents who are just arriving don’t. Which is why people aren't allowed to wander off alone. Just like Rockton.
Max is a 10-year-old boy who comes to Haven's Rock with his mother and brother after his father was murdered in cold blood, and his mother was shot after they apparently saw something they weren't supposed to see. Escaping to Haven's Rock is supposed to be a safety net to avoid those who were responsible for Max's family's troubles. Max has learned a lot from not only Casey but especially Dalton on how to survive. But when he claims to have seen a bear with human eyes, Casey and Eric take the sighting seriously despite not knowing exactly what it was.
When Max, who is smart, intuitive, empathetic, and responsible, is later taken by an unknown person, Casey and Dalton fear that trouble has followed them from Rockton. Could the hostiles have found their way here? Or, is it the miners who are doing whatever they are doing and are trying to keep people away from what they are doing? When a body is found, Casey is right there to find it as though death follows her everywhere. As the accusations start to point to something more nefarious by residents, Casey learns something that might change her ability to do her job.
This is where the author takes a jump back in time to when Casey was 19. The thing that happened to her when she was 19, drove her for 10 years to try to prove she's not another cold-blooded killer looking for revenge. She became a cop, later a detective, and several years ago, made the move to Rockton. She has done wonderful work since she was given permission to stay at Rockton, and she had hoped that Haven's Rock was her retirement retreat with Eric. I'm not going to speak on the issue because it kind of took a life of its own, ergo, spoiling the story.
Casey and Eric, with help from Emilie, Yolanda, and a few others, still draw a firm line on who can be admitted. Unlike Rockton which got out of hand, dangerous criminals aren’t permitted. Readers will gain a better understanding of the key characters and their backgrounds if they read the Rockton series first or start at the beginning of this series. But what about the miners who appear to be trying to encroach on their lands? Will they become a major issue? I don't make it a habit of saying it's okay to just jump in without knowing why you should care about any of these characters. I love Eric more today, than I did before I read this story, and no, again, the reason I refuse to talk about it is because it's a cliffhanger.
CHAPTER ONE
Casey
“Bigfoot,” Anders whispers in my ear. “I can’t believe we’re searching for Bigfoot. This is so cool.”
I glare at our deputy. Anders only grins back and waggles his brows.
“I’m joking,” he says, his voice still low enough for only me to hear. “I wouldn’t say that in front of anyone else. Poor kid’s been through hell. If I were him, I’d be too damn scared to go into the forest at all. Hell, sometimes I am too damn scared, and I’ve been living out here for six years.”
Looking at Will Anders, it’d be hard to believe anything could frighten him. He’s over six feet tall and built like a quarterback. An army tattoo on his biceps speaks to an early career in the military police. But, yes, despite his years in Rockton, he’s not entirely comfortable in the forest, as evidenced by the big .45 at his hip. Dalton and I carry smaller guns and accept that we aren’t likely to stop a grizzly. Anders hedges his bets in any way he can.
An hour ago, ten-year-old Max saw something on a hike. It seems to have been a grizzly. Max described a tall brown-furred creature, which is also what Gunnar saw. But Max swears when the beast looks at him, it has human eyes. So, yes, that naturally leads to jokes about Bigfoot. Jokes that I know Anders would never make in front of other residents. Jokes that we need to ensure other residents don’t start making themselves, in case Max overhears. He’d already admitted he’d been reluctant to report hearing something after a similar incident turned up nothing.
Max is a smart kid. He’s also a kid suffering from PTSD. Being smart and traumatized means he’s aware that he might be jumpy, and he doesn’t want to be the boy who cried bear. But worrying about that led to a situation where a group of hikers had been stalked by a grizzly, and the only one who noticed had second-guessed himself until it was almost too late.
“Fuck.”
I follow the curse to the guy standing off to my left. Sheriff Eric Dalton. My partner in … well, everything. Husband, colleague, best friend, and co-founder of Haven’s Rock, our tiny sanctuary town in the Yukon.
The curse makes me smile. He’s been trying to cut back on profanity, particularly his affinity for every variation of that particular word. I’m mostly just amused by his efforts.
Dalton strides over with brown hairs pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
“Moose, right?” I say, half joking, half hoping.
He shakes his head. That curse told me what I needed to know. It’s grizzly fur.
“Storm was right then,” I say, patting our Newfoundland. She’s our tracking dog, or that was the excuse Dalton used for buying me my dream-breed puppy. We have trained her in tracking, though, and her reaction earlier told me we weren’t dealing with a moose. She smelled bear.
“Any prints?” Anders asks.
“Ground’s too dry. Found a couple of scuff marks, but all I can tell from them is that they’re big and they aren’t hoofprints. Got a few broken branches. Bit of trampled undergrowth. And this”—he lifts the fur—“four feet off the ground.”
“Shit.” Anders casts an anxious glance around. “That’s a problem, right? A grizzly stalking a group of six. It should know better.”
“We’re lucky Max noticed it,” I say.
“Yeah, it’s good he noticed, but I’m not sure they were in real danger. Bear was looking for an opportunity. Would it have attacked if Gunnar and Max had fallen behind for longer? Or was it just getting closer for a better look?” Dalton shrugs. “Hard to say. The fact it fled is a good sign.”
“It’s still a concern,” I say.
“Hell, yeah. The question is how to play it. In Rockton, I’d have leaned in hard. Possible man-eating grizzly on the loose. No one takes a single step outside town until we’ve dealt with it. Scare the shit out of people.”
“But we have children in town now, children who’ve already been traumatized.”
“Yep, and I don’t know shit about dealing with that. We’re going to need to consult with the experts.”erupt
No comments:
Post a Comment