It's 2004, the summer of Glacier Park's grizzly bear DNA study. In the Cut Bank Valley, Clancy Dyer dashes through the aspen to roust her coworker Ezra, but instead she finds his shredded tent and a horrible smell. Ezra has disappeared. Meanwhile, District Ranger Mack Savage speeds toward the valley's car campground in response to his rookie ranger's report of unusual bear behavior. Mack has been dating Liz Ralston, the biologist conducting a groundbreaking DNA study. Saboteurs have wrenched her materials and she suspects both park personnel and a local climber. Frustrated with Mack's inability to protect her study, Liz has hired a Blackfeet tribal member and local packer who she knows carries a pistol and a grudge. Meanwhile, she may not be above taking her own revenge. Set amidst Glacier's fierce beauty, Baited grapples with grief, multiple suspicious deaths, differing beliefs surrounding the protection of Glacier's grizzly bears, the park's fraught relationship with the adjacent Blackfeet Reservation, and especially how to reconcile one's love and affection for a person who has committed a reprehensible act. Told primarily from Clancy and Mack's points of view but with some of the other characters taking center stage as needed, in particular the Native American stories that help shape the novel. The writing abounds with beautifully rendered passages and vivid thumbnail descriptions that make Glacier Park's majestic wilderness a character in itself.

About the Author
Colleen O'Brien earned her MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Montana. She taught English at Blackfeet Community College in Browning, MT and worked summers for the park service for several years. Her stories and essays have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. She and her husband own and operate small businesses in the hamlet of East Glacier Park, MT. She lives with her family near Glacier Park. Baited is her first novel and was earlier awarded the Michael Kenneth Smith Fellowship at Porches Writing Retreat in Virginia.

Reviews

Colleen O'Brien casts a wicked, believable spell of deceit and heartbreak, a burn of a tale that begins to bubble and hiss, and then rapidly boil over. Imagine taking a walk in the dark woods with friends who have heartbreaking and monumental secrets to tell. Now imagine those friends are in Montana and the intertwine of their communal stories will take you to the edge of a precipice. Like all good mysteries, this story will catch you up. Baited is an intricately plotted masterpiece. A stunning, edge-of-your-seat drama. An exquisite all night read.

- Debra Magpie Earling

Book Information
ISBN 9781609531553
Author Colleen O'Brien
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Unbridled Books
Publisher Unbridled Books
Dimensions(mm) 209mm * 139mm * 12mm