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A Solitude Of Wolverines: A Novel of Suspense (Alex Carter, #1) by Alice Henderson

William Morrow, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-0062982063

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook.

A new thriller series has arrived to bring a bit of light to the hell year that was 2020. Alice Henderson invites readers to join her on a new quest in the wilderness with more than a bit of  darkness surrounding her story. Those familiar with the author will recall the stunning horror novel Voracious, the thrilling Skyfire trilogy, and her Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels. One element that courses through her fiction is the dedication to wildlife and the environment.

A Solitude of Wolverines is the first entry in a new series that promises plenty and delivers both thrills and scares while imbuing a strong sense of the gorgeous setting with nary a wasted character. Biologist Alex Carter accepts a position in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana after she survives a strange attack in Boston: a deranged gunman opens fire at a ceremony, only to be killed by an unknown second shooter. She leaves behind a life not for her, including a high-maintenance lawyer boyfriend, and lands in an old ski resort where she’s tasked with tracking the elusive wolverines in the area.

Alex’s arrival does not sit well with the locals. A truck runs her off the road right away, while the sheriff and landowners want the wilderness area for their own plans. She finds a man in the Montana wilderness, injured and near death, stating “they can’t find me.” Scene by scene, Henderson amps up the tension with the stakes looming larger, and the sinister conspiracy unfolding at every turn, leaving Alex not knowing who to trust and worrying about who’s trying to kill her. The climax is a stunner, and announces Alex Carter as a major new character in the thriller universe. The open-ended thread of a possible serial killer with a connection to Alex threatens to grow into a stronger story in subsequent books.

Henderson’s deft hand weaves a strong narrative through the maze of characters brilliantly drawn. Nobody is who they seem to be, which drives Alex’s survival instincts, learned from her Air Force pilot mom, into high gear. Carter is a great lead character who appears destined to have a long, storied future. She is a woman who’s not afraid to show her flaws, yet has the heart and spine to stand with the toughest men in the genre. Readers might draw some parallels with Nevada Barr, C.J. Box, and William Kent Krueger, but Henderson has a style all her own. Her insight and expertise into the setting she knows so well, the stark, beautiful Montana wilderness, becomes a central character yet never overshadows the story.

A highly recommended first entry in a new thriller series.

Reviewed by David Simms