The Wild Inside

October 15, 2017

Trapper/hunter Tracy Petrikoff knows her way around the Alaskan wilderness but can't remember what happened when she was attacked in the woods. Bradbury won the Estelle Campbell Memorial Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2018
An Alaskan teenager on the cusp of adulthood is drawn to the feral life.Although the folksy and stubbornly ungrammatical voice of Bradbury's first-person narrator, Tracy Petrikoff, takes some getting used to, it conveys a visceral sense of her world. In the nearly two years since her mother's death, a month before Tracy's 16th birthday, her home life has been thrown into disarray. Now nearing 18, Tracy hopes to enter her first adult Iditarod. But her father, Bill, a champion musher, has given up the sport and is deaf to Tracy's pleas to let her train. Younger brother Scott has retreated into his books and photography. Other than tending the fleet of sled dogs her family still maintains, she is officially grounded--she's been expelled from school for fighting. However, Tracy easily evades her father's halfhearted discipline to set woodland traps. Her catches--martens, minks, hares, and squirrels--provide meat for the family and pelts to sell in the nearby village. Furthermore, trusty hunting blade in hand, Tracy gains essential strength from drinking the blood of her prey while also temporarily mind-melding with victims. One day in the woods, a strange man slams Tracy against a tree root and she blacks out. When the man, Tom Hatch, shows up at her home, bleeding from a stab wound, Tracy assumes she inflicted it. Returning to the scene of her supposed crime, Tracy finds a backpack containing wads of cash, enough to enter the Iditarod. Jesse Goodwin, a young drifter, appears, taking on the role of hired factotum. Tracy and Jesse develop a special bond after she learns Jesse was fleeing Hatch. However, Jesse is not what he seems. The ingredients of a thriller with surreal elements are all in place, as Tracy suspects that Hatch has recovered and may be seeking revenge. From here the plot veers off in directions that are not only unexpected, but at time beggar belief. Still, readers will warm to the unconventional persona Bradbury has crafted for Tracy, that of wilderness savant.A strange and soulful debut.

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January 22, 2018
Set in the dense Alaska wilderness, Bradbury’s quiet yet haunting debut novel is equal parts back-to-the-land adventure story and foreboding psychological thriller. Fresh on the heels of her mother’s sudden death and an expulsion from school, 17-year-old Tracy spends most of her days hunting and trapping in the forest abutting her family’s backcountry home and kennel. When a hulking stranger attacks her in the woods, she defends herself and almost kills him—or does she? The plot is slow but gripping: it changes course after a 17-year-old drifter named Jesse answers Tracy’s father’s ad for a tenant and helps take care of the dogs in preparation for the approaching Iditarod. Though Jesse and Tracy become close in more ways than one, Tracy suspects he’s hiding something—especially after she realizes he lied about his past and might be connected to the person who accosted her in the woods. Bradbury builds suspense by keeping Tracy—and the reader—mostly in the dark about what’s actually going on until the gruesome reveal at the end. She also adds other elements to keep interests piqued: Tracy’s ability to sense her kills’ thoughts adds a mystical element to the narrative, and the detailed depiction of mushing is captivating. It’s a unique take on rural noir. Agent: Michelle Brower, Aevitas.

March 1, 2018

Tracy has kept a dark secret her whole life. She adheres to rules set by her late mother, and everything seems fine until she is attacked in the woods. After waking up alone, she must figure out what happened. When a new man shows up in town, Tracy feels like he is hiding something. To make matters worse, he insinuates himself into her family, and she is pulled into an alarming situation where she cannot tell fact from fiction and neither can those around her. This immersive novel is effectively told from Tracy's perspective. Not only are the situations Tracy finds herself in formidable, dangerous, and unpredictable, but so is the Alaskan setting. The ever-changing nature of the wilderness reflects Tracy's mind-set. Part thriller, part horror, this book will keep readers on the edge of their seats. VERDICT Give this visceral page-turner to those looking for a thriller with a twist.-Tegan Anclade, Lake Villa District Library, IL

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018
Tracy lives to hunt, sometimes spending days in the Alaska wilderness with nothing but her wits and her knife. Ever since her mother died, her father has kept her on a tight leash, especially when it comes to training for the upcoming Iditarod. Tracy's preternatural drive to hunt is insatiable, however, so she sneaks out regularly, which is where she is when the stranger attacks her. She fights back, waking up with a bruised head and bloody hands, but she's convinced he'll return to finish what he started. When her father takes on a hired hand, Tracy's careful secrets start to unravel, and she discovers disturbing truths about her desperate need to hunt. Though the pacing can be haphazard and Tracy's folksy, first-person narration doesn't always ring true, debut author Bradbury cultivates vivid atmosphere with visceral action and a dynamic cast of characters. Tracy's unsettling compulsion for hunting takes a magic-realist turn early on, which might disappoint fans of straightforward survival thrillers, but patient readers who like earthy, genre-blending, coming-of-age stories should be pleased.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)