The Tiger

'Enriched by sparkling sidetracks into nature and history, this enthralling true-crime narrative takes us on a snowbound search not only for a beast but for a motive. Like its superb quarry, Vaillant's book moves with grace and stealth, covers a vast terrain and shakes the observer's soul' -- Independent 'The structure of Vaillant's nonfiction hunting tale echoes that of "Moby-Dick," alternating a gripping chase narrative -- the search, in the late 1990s, for a man-eating Amur tiger in the Primorye region, on Russia's far eastern border -- with dense explanations of the culture and ecology surrounding the chase.' -- New York Times 'The Tiger also counts as a supreme example of true-crime writing driven by wide-angle empathy and compassion. Some readers may choose to shelve it, not among cosy wildlife yarns, but with Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.' -- Boyd Tonkin, Independent 'This is an altogether different kind of manhunt story ... The pursuit culminates in a breathtaking stand-off of man versus cat in a forest clearing - a denouement every bit as explosive and surprising as the raid in Abbottabad earlier this week.' -- Hampton Sides, Wall Street Journal 'A personal favourite of mine, an extraordinary account of a tracker on the trail of a Siberian man-eating tiger in 1997. Along the way we get a load of tiger facts and a beautiful portrait of a forbidding region. It is a stunning, lovely, lovely book.' -- Bookseller 'extraordinary ... a brilliantly told tale of man and nature' -- Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books a remarkable story, exceptionally well told. -- Financial Times The Tiger is the sort of book I very much like and rarely find. Humans are hard-wired to fear tigers, so this book will attract intense interest. -- Annie Proulx 'The Tiger takes us on a journey to the raw edge of civilization, to a world of vengeful cats and venal men, a world that, in Vaillant's brilliant telling, is simultaneously haunting and enchanting.' -- Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers This book must be read by everybody who is interested in the conservation of wildlife. It takes you to the Russian wilderness to meet face-to-face with the Siberian tiger. -- Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation An absolutely superb book. -- George Schaller, Wildlife Conservation Society & Panthera A masterpiece -- Outside Brilliant -- US Library Journal 'Few writers have taken such pains to understand their monsters, and few depict them in such arresting prose.' -- New York Times Book Review instant classic -- Calgary Herald 'astoundingly gripping' -- Toronto Star read this fine, true book in the warmth, beside the flicker of firelight. Read it and be afraid. Be very afraid. -- Simon Winchester, Globe and Mail Breathtakingly exciting -- Vancouver Sun A hair-raising tale in which conservation, madness and even murder collide. -- Montreal Gazette fascinating and compelling plot -- Ottawa Citizen Overall, this is a superb book -- hyper-intelligent, wonderfully well-written, with a great cast, both human and animal, and at its heart, the amazing and truly chilling story of one tiger's winter campaign of murderous revenge. -- Daily Mail Riveting -- Washington Post Not so incidentally, if ever a nonfiction author has used the techniques of fiction any better to recount a real-life narrative, it is difficult to imagine who that author would be. -- Seattle Times By all means read Vaillant's magnificent book about the animal: The Tiger offers readers a shiver-inducing portrait of a predator that has been revered - and feared - like no other animal. -- San Francisco Chronicle Enthralling -- Christian Science Monitor Writing in a vigorous, evocative style ... Vaillant paints a haunting portrait of man's vexed relationship with nature. -- Publishers Weekly 'Brad Pitt has bought the movie rights to "The Tiger," but with all due respect to Mr. Pitt, there's no way the movie will match Mr. Vaillant's book.' -- Washington Times 'part natural history, part Russian history and part thriller; it tells a gripping and gory story of what it's like to stalk - and be stalked by - the largest species of cat still walking the Earth.' -- National Public Radio (USA) 'This masterful account of the terror, death and grief caused by a man-eating Amur tiger in Russia in 1997 is as mesmerising, rangy and relentless as the creature in question.' -- <Sunday Telegraph 'affectionate account' -- Times Literary Supplement 'John Vaillant is a literary shaman.' -- Quill & Quire