Tooth and Claw

September 16, 2024
Walt Longmire faces off against an Alaskan polar bear in Johnson’s underwhelming latest adventure for the Wyoming sheriff (after First Frost). In an extended flashback, Longmire recalls accepting a security job for an oil company drilling in Alaska in 1970. The drilling has caused tension with environmentalists in the region, who want 20 million acres of Alaskan land set aside as a national wildlife refuge. Walt is assigned to a survey team testing ice cores, but shortly after the group reaches their site, someone is killed. Initially, the evidence indicates a wild animal attack, but Blackjack, an Indigenous sniper on the security detail, warns the survivors it may actually be the work of “nanurluk, the great bear god who cannot be killed.” As Longmire and his cohorts fight to stay alive, certain members of their party reveal sinister motives. The story is framed as a conversation between Walt and another survivor, which drains the story of suspense, and Johnson’s gruff prose lacks the atmospherics necessary to pull off a survival thriller in the vein of The Terror. Some gratifyingly gruesome action aside, this one’s best suited to series diehards. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary.