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Bearskin
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
Bearskin is visceral, raw, and compellingfilled with sights, smells, and sounds truly observed. Its a powerful debut and an absolute showcase of exceptional prose. There are very few first novels when I feel compelled to circle brilliant passages, but James McLaughlins writing had me doing just that. C.J. Box, #1 NYT bestselling author of The Disappeared Rice Moore is just beginning to think his troubles are behind him. Hes found a job protecting a remote forest preserve in Virginian Appalachia where his main responsibilities include tracking wildlife and refurbishing cabins. Its hard work, and totally solitaryperfect to hide away from the Mexican drug cartels he betrayed back in Arizona. But when Rice finds the carcass of a bear killed on the grounds, the quiet solitude hes so desperately sought is suddenly at risk. More bears are killed on the preserve and Rices obsession with catching the poachers escalates, leading to hostile altercations with the locals and attention from both the law and Rices employers. Partnering with his predecessor, a scientist who hopes to continue her research on the preserve, Rice puts into motion a plan that could expose the poachers but risks revealing his own whereabouts to the dangerous people he was running from in the first place. James McLaughlin expertly brings the beauty and danger of Appalachia to life. The result is an elemental, slow burn of a novelone that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.
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Reagan
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Books 65 and 66 I think? Bearskin is due back sooner so it jumps the queue. I started another but not sure we‘re vibing so I‘ll move on for now and see how they go. Hope everyone had a fruitful weekend full of books.

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TEArificbooks
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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My #bookspinbingo for January. Numbers 1 -15 are books I bought last year that I wished I had read. 16 - 20 will be for Book of the Month and book club books that haven‘t arrived yet. 21 - 25 are the free spaces that I will use for library holds and impulse reads. @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Sounds great!!! 3y
44 likes1 comment
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Godpants
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Southern thriller? Yes please!

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TracyReadsBooks
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Pickpick

Oops! Meant to post a review not blurb so do over...Slow to start, this debut eventually kicks into high gear & is impossible to put down. On the run from a past he hopes doesn‘t catch up to him, Rice Moore takes a job as caretaker of a forest preserve. When he discovers a bear carcass, he goes after the poachers but things are complicated & staying out of trouble is difficult. Land rights, hunting, the environment, secrets & more. A good read.

26 likes2 stack adds
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TracyReadsBooks
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Saturday morning reading...with The Child tagging along. Searched high and low across all of Disney World for Baby Yoda and was super excited to find these socks. (Apparently there is also a car magnet I didn‘t find.) So fun and so nice to dive back into a good book.

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TracyReadsBooks
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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I did manage to read a few chapters while on vacation but truly not as much as I hoped. That being said, this book has a great opening and I‘ve enjoyed what I‘ve read so far. Now to dive back in.

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TracyReadsBooks
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Now reading.

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onebigshoe
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
Bailedbailed

Had to put this one down. Sadly, the problem is it‘s neither fish nor fowl. I‘d hoped that it would be a noir, which is how it was billed; however, it aspires to be more pointed and as a result falls short in every regard.

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LittleMummyMe
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Pickpick

An enjoyable, well written book.
It does have a somewhat lackluster ending...but that's o.k. with me, because sometimes things do actually end that way.

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Read66
Bearskin | James McLaughlin
Pickpick

A bit violent (so trigger warning on that if it is an issue) but still an enjoyable thriller. Strong sense of place.

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midath75
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
Bailedbailed

After six chapters I had to put this one down. I'll come back to it later on but right now I'm just not into it.

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Jenken1998
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Mehso-so

Ehh. It was ok. Lots of suspense built up but then kind of anticlimactic at the end. I was expecting 🌋. Didn't really get that. #audiobooks 🚨 trigger warning: graphic violence to animals and people and rape.

Tamra I bailed because it was so slow. I‘m glad to hear I didn‘t miss a big climax. 5y
45 likes1 comment
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TuesdayReviews
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Pickpick

Bearskin is gorgeously written but understated. It‘s literary without sacrificing plot. It‘s bloody without being mindless. It contains a touch of the supernatural (maybe) and a touch of the surreal. It walks a fine line between the people and the place of the mountains of Virginia.

#CountryNoir

Full review at https://hillbillyhighways.wordpress.com/2019/04/17/country-noir-bearskin-james-m...

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Redheadrambles
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Mehso-so

⭐️⭐️ ⭐️

This should have been in my wheelhouse - I love a good man vs nature story ( or in this case nature AND Narcos ) but this book was so plodding in its setup and character development. The Narcos sub-story, told in flashbacks had potential but I still don‘t feel I have the full picture ( is a prequel being written? ).
There are some lovely passages of nature writing here that I thought it might have worked better without the bad guys ?

Tamra I really did too! 5y
29 likes1 comment
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ambam1987
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Pickpick

Not quite what I expected, but I still enjoyed this suspenseful thriller. The author does a great job transporting the reader to the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia

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Doylefan
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
Pickpick

1st book of 19. Drug trafficking, sniping, hunting, hiking, cartels and MCs, rural setting with beautiful descriptions. Action mystery. 4 stars

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TuesdayReviews
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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If a book don‘t remind you just a little of Robert Earl Keen‘s The Road Goes On Forever it ain‘t #CountryNoir.

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Pandalibrarian
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Finally finished this book today. And it was ok, not my favorite book. Rice - the main character wasn‘t overly compelling to me. I didn‘t understand the weird hallucinations that happened to him. I did enjoy the setting and rice‘s love of the outdoors.

valeriegeary Yes. This is exactly how I feel too! 5y
23 likes1 comment
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valeriegeary
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Thanks to encouragement from @julesG & @saresmoore, I'm jumping back in to the crochet game! Attempting my first hat. 🙄

LiteraryinLawrence You can do it! Hope it‘s fun and relaxing. 5y
saresmoore Woohoo! It looks amazing! 5y
llwheeler Love the colour! 5y
Lindy Looking good! 5y
LeahBergen That‘s a lovely colour! 5y
64 likes5 comments
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Thndrstd
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Pickpick

Rice Moore takes a job at a remote forest preserve in Virginian Appalachia, where he thinks he can hide from the Mexican drug cartels he betrayed back in Arizona. There is a slow boiling tension throughout this book as Rice becomes embroiled with local bear parts smugglers. The writing is sharp with a strong sense of the landscape. Recommended.

JustJill1963 One of my favorite novels of 2018! 5y
42 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Tamra
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Bailedbailed

I got 70% in and I was forcing myself to listen. The descriptive writing, especially relating to nature, is terrific, but I don‘t now if it was the narco trafficking element or what it was about the storyline but it just wasn‘t captivating me. Initially it did! I will definitely check out his next novel though.

Leftcoastzen I was really curious about this but was afraid the narco part of the plot would be meh for me. (edited) 6y
Redwritinghood I bailed on this too. I felt like it was just trying too hard to be tough and macho. 6y
78 likes2 comments
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Tamra
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Audio cleaning - awesome prose so far!

73 likes1 stack add
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Owlizabeth
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Mehso-so

This book was just okay, there was some lovey writing but the story felt uneven to me. Part nature story, part revenge tale, part hallucinatory weirdness, part crime novel, it‘s like it couldn‘t figure out what it wanted to be. 👍🏼👍🏼 1/2

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Owlizabeth
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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I like this book a lot.

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Owlizabeth
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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It took me about 30 pages to really get the rhythm of this book, but it‘s slowly reeling me in and I have a feeling I‘m gonna have a hard time putting it down soon. #appalachia

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Redwritinghood
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Bailedbailed

I think I‘m going to bail on this one. It‘s got a very macho, rugged outdoorsy vibe. Maybe it‘s just not my thing.

Owlizabeth I‘m a little nervous to start this one, it‘s sitting on my nightstand mocking me. 6y
Redwritinghood @Owlizabeth Maybe it‘ll be better in print. The narrator added to the vibe. 6y
readordierachel Hmm. Rugged and outdoorsy can be OK, macho not so much. How far did you get? 6y
See All 7 Comments
Redwritinghood @ReadOrDieRachel About 40%. It was a weird mix as the author also kept trying to make the protagonist a science/nerd and sensitive guy while talking about drug wars and snakes. It was just a strange mix to me. 6y
readordierachel That does sound weird. I don't like when authors shoehorn characteristics into their characters that don't make sense. 6y
Trashcanman Hi! 👁️👁️🤗 6y
75 likes1 stack add7 comments
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LouLouLane
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Wow what a cover!!! Spending a few days in the Appalachian mountains.

8 likes1 stack add
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Owlizabeth
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Spent my evening culling my #library stack - ended up with just these two and The Passage trilogy, everything else goes back in the tote to be returned this week....when I pick up the 3 new holds on their way in!! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️😂 #hopelessaddict

sprainedbrain Look at you! Making all these adult decisions! My library shelf on Libby is giving me anxiety. 😂 6y
IamIamIam Omigosh, I loved Baby Teeth!!!! Snagged that on NetGalley! I'm excited to see what you think@ 6y
66 likes2 comments
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Hooked_on_books
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Pickpick

Rice is working as a caretaker for a preserve in Appalachia, hiding from the Sinoloa cartel. Bearskin follows his attempts to identify local bear poachers while remaining under the radar and flashes back to his cartel-related life. An engaging rural story of a man fighting for environmental justice and sometimes his life.

Soubhiville Sounds good! I‘m going to see if my library has it 😊 6y
52 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Sjhaug
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Mehso-so

I wish I liked this better, it was good and kept me interested but somehow wished there was possibly more to it? However as I am writing this I wonder if reading it piecemeal while on vacation did it a disservice...

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sophierayton
Bearskin: A Novel | James A. McLaughlin
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Mehso-so

This is a quiet book. The atmospheric feeling I had while reading it was reminiscent of what I felt when reading The Road.

TheNeverendingTBR The Road is such a brilliant book, Bearskin sounds interesting! 🙂 6y
4 likes1 stack add1 comment
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TheLibrarian
Bearskin | James McLaughlin
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#bookmail is the best kind of mail!

DivineDiana Pretty! 6y
81 likes1 stack add1 comment
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lauralovesbooks1
Bearskin | James McLaughlin
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Pickpick

Rice Moore has fled the cartel to a job as a caretaker at a remote nature preserve in Virginia. Bear poachers bring his present and past on a collision course. Excellent literary thriller with some incredible nature writing woven in.

Booksnchill This one made the NYT books to read on nature this summer- stacked it! 6y
22 likes1 stack add1 comment
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LaceyDoesLit
Bearskin | James McLaughlin
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Pickpick
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AustenJennings
Bearskin | James McLaughlin
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Pickpick

if you like grit lit this is for you. there‘s a lot going on in this novel but mcLaughlin never lets it get away from him. great debut! don‘t let this one get past you. merry friday y‘all.

55 likes2 stack adds
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southernbooklady
Bearskin | James McLaughlin
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Rainy day reading.

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q_mollie
Bearskin | James McLaughlin
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Pickpick

What a great thriller! Unexpectedly brutal and beautiful and so intense I found myself slowing down towards the end to make it last longer. Pick this one up when you get a chance. (June 12, 2018 pub date)