“Heartwood” isn’t the best book I’ve read this year, but it’s among the most gripping. Perfect for readers who want substance and momentum, or book clubs looking for both literary depth and genuine suspense.
All tagged nature
The Last Ranger – Peter Heller
Expectation: A “John Wick” revenge fantasy about a national park ranger seeking out an illegal wolf poaching ring.
Reality: The plot drowns in unrelated minutiae. Had I not been trapped in a car for six hours, I probably would’ve given up on it.
Godspeed – Nickolas Butler
Expectation: A race around the clock thriller that taps into shared anxieties about control and opportunity from different experiences on the class spectrum.
Reality: Often ridiculous but frequently entertaining, the good outweighed the bad thanks to strong character development.
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis – Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine K. Wilkinson
While it may be too in-depth for those seeking general information – honestly, it sometimes felt like reading a textbook – the editors, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine K. Wilkinson have compiled a primer on the vernacular, key issues and political lightning rods.
The Fisherman – John Langan
Expectation: A gory, nature-themed horror/fantasy centered around a fictional upstate New York urban legend.
Reality: An incredibly boring mishmash of genre tropes that overshadowed the few thrilling scenes and a likable main character.
The Beast in the Garden – David Baron
Baron presents the events as a tense, slowly unfolding disaster complete with disagreeing citizens, unconcerned politicians and a few people determined to raise the alarm. If you replaced great white shark in “Jaws” with a group of mountain lions, the plot of that movie and this book would be eerily similar.