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There are currently 20 member reviews
for Panther Gap
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Yvonne
Chaotic
The energy of the novel is chaotic especially when you are getting Bowman's perspective and story. It is the feeling of falling in your sleep gasping to awake from a fevered dream. This is before you realize there is a family secret that is going to rip things apart. Summer is the one holding things together by a thread before things begin to go south on the family compound security measures start caving in with the arrival of Sam. The author did a great job building a picture of our two main characters and leaving the others in the shadows until needed to push the story forward. Just for fun we even get a drug cartel with their own issues raining on the parade of disasters.
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Ellen
Wild ride!
Reading Panther’s Gap was quite a wild ride! I hadn’t read James McLaughlin before but after reading his latest book, I will go back and read Bearskin and keep an eye out for him in the future. This book is a definite page-turner, and I couldn’t wait to see the next twists and turns to the plot.
The descriptive language about the Colorado landscape and its inhabitants is very rich and supports the Girard family’s love of the land. As Summer and Bowman are about to come into a very large inheritance, the back story which slowly is revealed, raises questions about their material and family legacy and the values they want to live in their lives in the present day. There is a very lively cast of characters woven throughout the story and a very fluid sense of right and wrong as the story unfolds.
Ultimately, the plot takes us to the Arizona border where we see drug cartels in action and back again to the Colorado ranch where all the competing sides in pursuit of the inheritance face off. McLaughlin does a good job of keeping us guessing as to who the good guys are and who are the villains. It was a more violent story than what I usually enjoy, and the ending seemed a bit over the top but it kept me engaged from beginning to end.
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Janis H. (Willow Street, PA)
About that trust fund
I finished this book almost two weeks ago, but a reread of several sections had to happen before I could write an honest review. The author likes to jump into a scene as the action is happening, especially in Chapter 1. He moves quickly from one scene to another with no reference link to the previous one. When I reached Page 61, I decided to return to the beginning because hints as to whatever happened in the past. Why do the descendants of the grandfather live in a fortified house carved into a cliff in a mountain cliff with no apparent entrance from the outside world. How much so the uncles who raised the sister know about the money? What happened to the father in Africa? Why is the brother living off the grid on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rico. Is the lost tourist a part of a group that also wants the money or is he really lost? The grandfather's, father's, and brother's paranoia stems from money, a lot of money swindled from the Las Vegas mafia and the Mexican Cartel. Once the action begins James McLaughlin keeps the reader on the edge of the seat; however, the flipping between past and present is like watching a suspenseful television show interrupted by twenty minutes of commercials. Book Browse sent this book to me as an Advanced Reader's Copy. I am sure fans of McLaughin's first book Bearskin will multiply when they read this book. He does write action very well; but. new readers should read the first pages very slowly. The rock falls slowly from atop the mountain but does gain speed as it nears the bottom.
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J. deSimas
Dances with Wolves Meets Hawaii Five-O
Here is an engrossing page-turner -- a solid choice for mystery fans or devotees of "Yellowstone."
In "Panther Gap," siblings Summer and Bowman have inherited a huge sum from their long-dead grandfather, who may or may not have had nefarious connections. That they are anywhere near this wealthy has never occurred to them -- their father raised them on an isolated ranch in Colorado, teaching them about the Others (animals) and practicing the "old ways" of the region's original inhabitants. The bulk of the novel describes Summer and Bowman's long-awaited, frequently-thwarted reunion interspersed with flashbacks that fill the reader in on their lives up to this point. Summer, the older of the two, is beautiful, resourceful, and tough – but not invulnerable to love. Her brother Bowman, on the other hand, studies the metaphysical world and is prone to having visions. He frequently does a sort of mind-meld (often under the influence of hallucinogenic substances he has grown, foraged, or purchased) with nearby wildlife, mentally travelling or flying along on their journeys and hunts. Two uncles, a lost lawyer, a two-faced ex-boyfriend, and the memory of the siblings' heart-broken father complete the cast. Once reunited, Summer's and Bowman's task is to claim their gazillions before any of the cartel / mob villains get to it. The result is non-stop action and plot twists.
McLaughlin's oft-praised lyrical style and soaring descriptions of the southwest are here, as is his simple, conversational tone. His characters become more fleshed-out as the novel progresses, and by the end we feel we know their general mindset and motives. The dialogue, however, often feels clunky and trite -- the characters' actions are from "Dances with Wolves" but their conversations are from "Hawaii Five-O." Where McLaughlin's landscape descriptions are lush and evocative, his characters, for all their education and self-awareness, speak in disjointed and unreal phrases. Andrew becomes The Joker toward the end of the book -- kidnappers don't talk like that.
Maybe McLaughlin will put the sincere, soulful tone he uses for his mountain-scapes into the voices of the people who inhabit them. In the meantime, "Panther Gap" is an entertaining and action-packed read.
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Stephanie K. (Glendale, AZ)
Panther Spirit and Drug Cartel Violence
Panther Gap by James A. McLaughlin is a wild ride to a deceptively quiet, remote Colorado ranch. Hippie-spirit Bowman and his academic-track sister Summer grow up knowing there's more than what meets the eye in their idyllic existence. Behind the scenes, their family has amassed shocking wealth, and their secret inheritance brings a frightening array of suspicious characters and cartel operatives into their young lives. Bowman utilizes psychedelic rites and Summer ecological knowhow in an attempt to rescue their ranch from a selloff. What the siblings fail to realize is that several powerful drug cartels in the area are far more interested in offshore funds, at the expense of Summer's and Bowman's lives. Their story becomes more involving and fascinating as the chapters roll on, and the last few contain more than a couple of nail-biters. The author ties up the many loose ends very effectively at the conclusion and he has us genuinely caring for the welfare of his well-drawn characters.
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Vicki C. (Franklin, TN)
Panther Gap Review
Panther Gap is an unusual story that takes place mainly at a family compound in Colorado. Two siblings, Bowman and Summer suddenly find their lives and their livelihoods threatened by a criminal organization that wants the fortune that was apparently stolen by their grandfather decades earlier. There seem to be a confusing number of people trying to gain access to the fortune and it is not always clear who is who which adds to the sense of adventure.
The two siblings are quite different and were raised in near isolation by their father who appears to be paranoid although his concerns over the safety of his two children turn out to be warranted.
The son, Bowman is an odd character, seemingly more spirit than human. His sister, Summer is far more practical and they are both protected in part by their deceased mother's two twin brothers and a stranger who happens upon their compound.
There is a great deal of action and is generally an interesting read.
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