Wild Instinct: A Novel
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A gripping high-stakes thriller by three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker ("A marvel...hits the high-water mark for crime fiction every time out." —Gregg Hurwitz)
The hunt for the truth is the deadliest game.
Former Marine sniper Lew Gale, now a detective with the Orange County California Sheriff’s Department, is assigned to track and shoot a mountain lion that has killed a man in the rugged country east of Laguna Beach, California. The victim is Bennet Tarlow, a rich developer and man-about-town in upscale coastal Orange County.
The investigation takes a chilling turn when Lew and his new partner, Daniela Mendez, discover that Bennet was dead long before the lion got to him. And while he might have been the first to die, he certainly will not be the last.
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Community Reviews
A former Marine and now a Sheriff down in OC, who is tracking a suspected killer mountain lion? Yeah, that sounds exactly like my kind of story! I liked Lew Gale from the get-go! Gale came back from his tours in Afghanistan a troubled man, mentally, emotionally and physically. He still has nightmares from the people he killed as a skilled sniper for the Marines, and the physical trauma he suffered destroyed his marriage and definitely handicaps him in having another relationship. Half Acjacheme Indian from his mom, who he adores and lives with, and half Spanish from his father, who he despises because of he’s a life-long philanderer on his third family and makes no apologies for his behavior and/or lifestyle.
There is also another storyline of Mendez, a single mother of a 17yr old son, Jesse, that Mendez secretly tracks and stalks his every minute with an app. Good grief! While I’ve never been a parent, that kind of behavior is such a huge red flag that just screams “helicopter mom with major control issues”.
Most of the story revolves around Gale and his new partner, Daniela Mendez working the clues in the case of Ben Tarlow, a rich Newport Beach real estate developer whose most recent project got a lot of bad press from both the local Indian mission and several groups of indigenous Indian tribes. It's deep into the second half that Gale stumbles (literally) onto some clues that takes the investigation in a whole other direction. The end comes pretty quick after that for both storylines in some really scary and intense scenes.
The character development for the MC’s was well done, especially for Gale. I liked how throughout the story, Gale was reading a book from the 1800’s about an Acjacheme boy who was hunting a killer lion that had dragged his sister off. The story depicted so much of the history of San Juan Capistrano back then and the Acjacheme people who lived there at the mission. It made the overall storyline so much more interesting. The pacing was steady to fast, and the writing was also very well done. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.3 that I will round down to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio #WildInstinct
There is also another storyline of Mendez, a single mother of a 17yr old son, Jesse, that Mendez secretly tracks and stalks his every minute with an app. Good grief! While I’ve never been a parent, that kind of behavior is such a huge red flag that just screams “helicopter mom with major control issues”.
Most of the story revolves around Gale and his new partner, Daniela Mendez working the clues in the case of Ben Tarlow, a rich Newport Beach real estate developer whose most recent project got a lot of bad press from both the local Indian mission and several groups of indigenous Indian tribes. It's deep into the second half that Gale stumbles (literally) onto some clues that takes the investigation in a whole other direction. The end comes pretty quick after that for both storylines in some really scary and intense scenes.
The character development for the MC’s was well done, especially for Gale. I liked how throughout the story, Gale was reading a book from the 1800’s about an Acjacheme boy who was hunting a killer lion that had dragged his sister off. The story depicted so much of the history of San Juan Capistrano back then and the Acjacheme people who lived there at the mission. It made the overall storyline so much more interesting. The pacing was steady to fast, and the writing was also very well done. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.3 that I will round down to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio #WildInstinct
