The Last Buffalo Hunter Book

"The story revolves around reticent but articulate young Kyle who, on his fourteenth birthday, is given bus tickets to spend the summer in his father's natal state and is remanded to the not-so-tender care of Cole, his blasphemous and outrageous grandfather. Cole, a throwback to the Old West, appears to be waging a one-man war on a whole range of fools in a state where some folks take Norman MacLean literally. As Cole discovers, the twentieth century is fast encroaching on a world where no one ever tells anyone what to do. But the focus of his outrage and ill temper is one Bruce Tipton, a smooth developer who (to quote Cole) not only "thinks the sun rises and sets in the crack of his ass," but is also determined to introduce a fenced park for "wild buffalo" right next to his home. Tipton's chicanery and venality find their match, and more, in Cole's stubbornness and profanity."--BOOK JACKET.

Publishers Weekly

A 14-year-old tenderfoot on a summer visit to Montana learns to rough it with his elders in this invigorating if uneven contemporary western debut. Kyle Richards can't wait to fish for trout and tramp the Bitterroot foothills alongside his legendary grandfather, Cole. What he discovers, though, is that far from the kindly old patriarch of Kyle's imagination, Cole is more a community scourge. Boisterous, rambunctious, irreverent and impetuous, the bearded 70-year-old logger immediately drags the shy boy into a wild frontier world of poaching, drinking, whoring and violent disregard for authority or social change. Only gradually does Kyle begin to develop a growing appreciation for the often vulgar and profane old man, who teaches him that one has to earn the right to enjoy the Montana wilderness. Although plausible character and situation take a hike long before Kyle gets to venture into the woods Kyle is too prissy to be credible, and Cole is drawn so broadly that he comes off as a nearly absurd caricature the novel rocks along with well-timed and often poetic descriptions of Montana's pastoral summer beauty. As conflicts between Cole and a local developer build to a climax, long excerpts from Cole's grandfather's journal interrupt the story. The journals have a profound effect on Kyle's understanding of Montana, but the memoir's text is far too modern in style and composition to be a convincing historical document, and it eventually proves to be an annoying interruption to the primary story. This otherwise briskly paced and often lyrical novel indicates great promise from a new western voice. There's no doubting Mosher's passion for his subject matter, and once his technique catches up, he'll be a writer to be reckoned with. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.