The Guide and the CEO Book

A down-on-his-luck Rocky Mountain fly-fishing guide and his client for the day, a Fortune 500 executive, clash over everything in this smart, engaging novel. Sean Boldt, hard-charging executive and fly-fishing aficionado, is in town for merger negotiations when he gets fed up and decides to take the day off to go fishing in the mountains. He'll need a guide. Immediately. The best. He's offering triple scale. But things better be done right. That would be Rick Tamerlin's job. Rick can use the money, so on short notice, he assembles the gear, packs his old pick-up, and takes Boldt up to a surefire backcountry lake. What could go wrong? M. David Detweiler is the author of two previous novels, Evenings Along the Stream (0-8117-0746-6) and The Tree of Life (0-8117-1600-7).

Publishers Weekly

A struggling fishing guide experiences a problematic yet enlightening encounter with a difficult client in Detweiler's (Tree of Life) latest, a story about a strange battle of wills that begins when businessman Sean Boldt takes a day off from his ongoing merger negotiations to head for the Rockies, hiring Rick Tamerlin to show him the best trout spots. But their day of fun in the sun quickly turns into a mental and spiritual tug-of-war when the brusque CEO begins quizzing the guide about his life and then makes a series of judgments that set Tamerlin on edge. The judgments pertain to the guide's career path, specifically to his decision to sell a chain of successful outdoor gear stores and embark on a simple life in the wilderness. The duo's initial fishing forays prove unsuccessful, and the tension builds when they hike to a high lake to reach Tamerlin's hidden favorite spot, only to discover that the guide has forgotten the fishing gear. After getting over their disappointment, they manage to improvise and catch a single trout, and as their trip and the book come to a close, Boldt responds by making a bizarre offer to set the guide up with his rebellious daughter, thinking they might make an interesting match. Detweiler's love for and knowledge of nature make the prose flow reasonably well, and some of the arguments serve up intriguing food for thought. But the plot seems more like that of a short story that has been stretched well beyond its ideal length, and neither protagonist rises far enough above the level of stereotype to make the concept work. (Aug.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.