Shikar - Hardcover

Jack Warner spent thirty years with United Press International in Dallas, New Orleans, Washington, and Atlanta, followed by thirteen years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He now lives with his wife of forty-five years on a small ranch near Silver City, New Mexico. He is at work on his second novel.

With blurbs from Janet Dailey, David Morrell, Dan Simmons and Stephen Coonts, among others, this sharp action thriller from a retired journalist looks to get some well-deserved media attention. Readers shouldn't be dismayed by the opening chapters, which follow classic monster-movie template as a huge Bengal tiger escapes an itinerant zoo in rural Georgia. It then proceeds to eat a few inhabitants, to the consternation of many including local sheriff Grady Brickhouse, the novel's protagonist, but not its most interesting character. That distinction belongs to Col. Jim Graham, a legendary hunter of man-eating tigers who leaves retirement in England to slay the Bengal beast even as a media frenzy develops over the story. Based-according to the author-on the equally legendary but entirely real tiger hunter Col. Jim Corbett, Graham dominates every page he's on with his quiet, cool yet compassionate demeanor, his superb hunting skills and his deep respect for nature and animals-the latter theme pushed by Warner throughout. The novel takes off when Graham arrives, and gains emotional and even spiritual resonance as Warner develops a curious subplot about a young mountain boy, nearly feral, who forges a bond with the tiger but joins forces with Graham in the novel's very exciting climax to confront the man-eater head-on. With lots of fascinating tiger lore, some terrific stalk-and-slash sequences and the charismatic Graham at its center, this novel will please all who enjoy swift tales of courage and derring-do.
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