Description

Its December 1997 and a maneating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote Russian village The tiger isnt just killing people its annihilating them and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims they discover that these attacks arent random the tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta Injured starving and extremely dangerous the tiger must be found before it strikes again

As he recreates these extraordinary events John Vaillant gives us an unforgettable portrait of this spectacularly beautiful and mysterious region We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshipped and lived alongside tigers even sharing their kills with them We witness the arrival of Russian settlers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries soldiers and hunters who greatly diminished the tiger populations And we come to know their descendants who crushed by poverty have turned to poaching and further upset the natural balance of the region

Beautifully written and deeply informative The Tiger circles around three main characters Vladimir Markov a poacher killed by the tiger Yuri Trush the lead tracker and the tiger himself It is an absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga

P 2010 Random House