Wounded

July 18, 2005
John Hunt, narrator of this western-with-a-twist, is a Wyoming rancher, horse trainer and Berkeley-educated art lover. He also happens to be black, an identity that Everett (American Desert
; Erasure
) presents as unremarkable in the rancher's accepting community. But intolerance rears its ugly head when the corpse of a gay man is found in a nearby canyon, and the cows of Hunt's Native American neighbor start turning up shot dead, racist slurs written in blood on the snow. Hunt believes a group of redneck thugs is responsible, but he's reluctant to get involved. He has enough on his plate, what with taking care of the ranch, tending the fires of a new romance and worrying about the health of old Uncle Gus, his cook and companion since his wife's death. When the gay son of an old college friend arrives at the ranch to recover from a bad breakup, Hunt must also referee the ongoing clash between young David and his homophobic father. The accumulation of these plot points overburden the novel, and Everett laconically renders the western milieu with a frustrating lack of sensory detail. David's disappearance toward the end fails to manufacture tension, and the violent conclusion is at once expected and unconvincing.

Starred review from July 15, 2005
Allusions to the 1998 Matthew Shepard murder in Laramie, WY, are inescapable in Everett's 17th novel (after "American Desert"). Rancher John Hunt and Uncle Gus have carved out a comfortable bachelors' existence in the high desert of Wyoming, training horses and caring for maimed coyote pups. This life is far removed from John's alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy, and from prison, where Gus spent 11 years for murder. Then the nearby killing of a young gay man and the subsequent arrest of their sometime handyman, Wallace, shatter their peace and isolation. In the palpable air of intolerance enveloping them all, John agrees to look after David, the son of an old college buddy, who arrives with his surly male lover. John's new romance with Morgan, a neighboring rancher, and odd cattle mutilations plaguing the Native American community round out the action that culminates with David's disappearance. Readers will have to decide whether the frontier justice of the violent ending is satisfying. In this taut modern Western, Everett reexamines the ethos of the American West and toys with familiar archetypes. A haunting depiction of intolerance and redemption, this is recommended for all fiction collections. -Jenn B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll. Northeast

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2005
John Hunt is a black man, a horse trainer, living with aging Uncle Gus on a ranch outside a small town in Wyoming. Hunt is recovering from the loss of his wife six years earlier in an accident he feels partly responsible for, even as he faces the budding romance developing with his neighbor Morgan. On the surface, Hunt's race seems to have little impact on the area, with its mix of whites and Indians. But the influx of white militia adds to the strain just beneath the surface that has always prompted Hunt's vigilance. When David, the son of an old college friend, comes to town with his gay lover, Hunt is forced to face the grim realities of his environment. Everett is masterful at conveying the slow pace of life in the region, the harshness of the terrain, the difficulty of the work, the reliance on neighbors, and the fear of humans more than wild animals. Readers who have enjoyed Everett's" Erasure "(2001) and " American Desert" (2004) will love this latest novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)