The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature Book

1991. A young man disappears. His body is found two days later, torso bizarrely hollowed out and his organs missing. But it's not the work of a deranged murderer'he was hunted, stalked, killed'and eaten, by a wild animal. A mountain lion.

The story backs up to 1987 and builds, layer by layer, a suspenseful tale. Boulder Colorado is a special city'full of outdoorsy, nature loving residents. Deer roam freely. The citizens are almost without exception THRILLED when the mountain lions follow the deer, and begin to wander the city. Two of the VERY few people who are concerned about this are Michael Sanders, a naturalist working for Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department, and Jim Halfpenny, a renowned naturalist, tracker, and author, working at CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

As the mountain lions become ever more bold, Michael and Jim become increasingly worried. No one will take them seriously'not Animal Control, not the District Wildlife Manager (aka Game Warden) for Boulder nor anyone at the Division of Wildlife, none of the very people that they are trying to protect.

The mountain lions become fearless around people. They begin climbing on roofs and jumping into dog pens, dining on dogs and cats with impunity. People trying to protect their pets are met with standoffs and aggressive growling. Even when a woman is stalked and treed by two lions who climb up after her and make a serious attempt on her life, the danger is ignored.

Comparisons are made with California and Montana and the fatal cougar attacks there. But no one does anything until 18 year old Scott, a fit, strong, athlete, is killed. In broad daylight, and mere yards from his high school. Killed and eaten, his body covered with twigs and dirt to cache the rest of it for later.

So many non-fiction books make the claim that they "read like an adventure story", and so few of them truly do. This is a rare exception, a jewel of a book. Riveting, horrifying, and entertaining by turns. I have reread this numerous times because even though I know what's going to happen, the writing is so good that I get caught up in it every time!