Home Range

Jeffrey C. Smith 
iUniverse (2006)
ISBN 0595398588
Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (9/06)


From the beginning you fall in love with the characters, especially the furry ones.  To the end you never figure out exactly what is truly happening as the story line takes twists and turns.  Simply put, you won't want to put it down.

A story that combines mystery, drama, romance and adventure, “Home Range” is truly a book that just throws you off from the start.  You think one thing will happen when another does, creating your certainty to become uncertainty in an instant.

“Home Range” is a story of a man who is on a mission to save the wolves from becoming extinct while battling everyone and everything he seems to come across.  As you fall deeper into the grips of the novel, you begin to realize that this man is true to heart and will go to any lengths to complete his mission.  But can he pull off a switch and bait to beat all time?  And how far will he go to save the creatures he has come to love?

Add a married woman that shares in his dream, hoping to find the answers she wants but not so sure she can find them alone.  Will she have to take over the mission of the man she seems to have fallen in love with, simply to save a dozen or so wolves?  Will she risk everything she has worked for her entire life to help the cause or will she cross him and go against his plan?

As you come to love the wolves involved, the people involved and the beautiful country side it takes place in, you will wonder if you truly want this roller coaster of emotions to end.  Bringing everything from a heavy sigh to a tear in your eye, you will be faced with emotions that truly are intensified as the story goes on.  Somehow, Jeff Smith has a way of bringing you truly into the storyline.  You become one with the characters and feel their pain.  You cheer the good guys on and bite your fingernails as the bad guys try to overcome them but then realize that perhaps the good guys aren't so good.  It truly is a novel that never gives you the final end until the final end.  So many books are predictable and this is unlike so many books!  An excellent read that can keep just about anyone entertained.  It reminded me of a mixture of James Bond meets Grizzly Adams.  An intense story of awesome proportion and truly one of the best reads you will come across.

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