Antler Dust
Mark Stevens
Reviewed by Vanessa Lee
The Colorado hunting season opens with death every year, but it's
usually the animals that fall lifeless to the forest floor. This year,
the season opens with a bigger bang – two humans are killed within a
matter of hours – that turns the hunting season and the community on
their heads.
The uproar is instant. One of the dead was a member of the animal
rights group – FATE – that was already staging a protest in the area,
and human deaths just add fuel to their campaign. Meanwhile, Allison
Coil, a hunting guide, swears she saw something out in the snow and
she's determined to find out what... no matter who she upsets in the
process.
The hunt is on. Coil knows who she wants, but she must uncover evidence
and motive before those she's hunting make her yet another victim.
The chase leads through the remarkable Colorado wilderness where Coil
and a few others will find what they're really made of.
Antler Dust is a first-rate thriller. Though you know from the early
pages "whodunit" the excitement is in the chase, which doesn't let up
until the very end.
Stevens fills what could be a mediocre story with engaging,
well-rounded characters. Each is unique, with his own quirks and
voices, and you'll come to care what happens to each one of them. Even
the "bad guys" avoid the cookie-cutter clichés and though I
found it difficult to sympathize with them, I could understand their
motivations on an intellectual level. They were as real and well
developed as the heroes.
Stevens also does an excellent job handling the specific subject
matter of Antler Dust. Though hunters and campers are likely to get a
bit more from some scenes, there is no need for wilderness neophytes to
shy away from the book. Explanations are brief and not bogged down with
details that would confuse armatures and bore the professionals, but
they're clear and understandable and do an excellent job introducing
readers to wild Colorado.
Tight, straightforward writing and a never-let-up pace make Antler Dust
a superb debut novel for Stevens. Let's hope he has more in store.