The
Wolf in the Clouds is Ron Faust’s second published novel. It
was originally published as a hardcover by Bobbs-Merrill’s Black Bat Mystery
imprint, then as a paperback by Popular Library, and recently as a trade
paperback and ebook. It is, like much of Mr. Faust’s early work, a relatively
simple adventure yarn with a poetic lilt that makes it a little more.
A small town in rural Colorado is under siege from a
slow moving blizzard and a rampage killer. A killer who shot several people at
a nearby ski resort and is now hiding in the rugged Wolf Mountain Wilderness
Area. The storm trapped three college students skiing in the shadow of the Wolf—a
high, unforgiving mountain peak—and two forest rangers brave the freezing
temperatures to mount a rescue. The rangers, Jack and Frank, find the skiers safely
holed up in a small cabin, but they also find the killer; a man named Ralph
Brace whom Jack once considered a friend, but now realizes he never knew at
all.
The
Wolf in the Clouds is an entertaining, smoothly written
adventure novel. It is written in first person from Jack’s perspective and the
narrative includes ideas larger than the story. The complexity of public land
use is only one and it is as relevant today as it was forty years ago. The
prose is both complex and simple; easy to read, but with a texture and feel of
something almost beautiful—
“Roof
timbers creaked, the last light faded from the windows, the stone walls exhaled
a new, acid cold. The long winter night was here; we had fourteen or fifteen
hours until dawn.”
The story lacks the complexity of Mr. Faust’s later
novels and the protagonist, Jack, is shaded nearly cold. He is aloof, even in
an early scene with his wife, and something of an outsider with both the Forest
Service and the townsfolk, which is forgivable since everything works so well—setting,
plotting, character. The Wolf in the
Clouds isn’t in the top-tier of Mr. Faust’s body of work, which is reserved
for his final six or seven novels, but it is still pretty damn good.
Ben, I'm not very familiar with the author and his books. When I do plan to read one of his novels, it may not be this one. I'll probably start with his first book, as I usually do with authors I have never read.
ReplyDeleteHad not known of this title, Ben, altho now that I'm working my way thru the Faust canon, this is a must-add to my list.
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