Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2009
192 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
Backpacking into the Wind River Mountains on their tenth annual trip, Mack and his wife, Vonnie, find the magnificent woods and stunning mountains of Wyoming full of ghosts and danger. Mack comes from a long line of ranchers, and his dedication to keeping the family land has led him into penury and a life of crime. Vonnie is a fiercely intelligent, headstrong girl who came west for love, only to have it stolen from her bit by bit.
They’ve made this trip to say goodbye to each other, but as they navigate the trails they know so well, they come to understand the true nature of their wounds. And Mack has one more secret: he is trying to receive a signal and retrieve something that has fallen from the sky. It is a beacon that will lead them into a wood far darker than they’ve ever imagined. Ron Carlson’s love for the mountains and his mastery of fiction radiate in the pages of this thrilling, fast-paced love story.
"Starred Review. Carlson has produced a work of masterful fiction, combining the sad inevitability of a doomed relationship with sheer nail-biting suspense." - Publishers Weekly
"A bit of a come-down from the bracing high of Five Skies (2007), Carlson's best novel to date, but an eye-opening trip well worth taking nevertheless." - Kirkus Reviews
"Unfortunately, the dangers they face seem contrived or poorly explicated, but there is plenty to enjoy here..." - Booklist
"Simple, taut, and elegant, it's a beautifully told tale of love and redemption that all readers will appreciate." - Library Journal
This information about The Signal was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ron Carlson is the author of four story collections and four novels, most recently Five Skies. His fiction has appeared in Harper's, The New Yorker, Playboy, and GQ. His work has been featured on NPR's This American Life and Selected Shorts and in Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize Stories. He is director of the UC Irvine writing program.
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