Christina Reviews *The Loop* by Nicholas Evans

         The Loop takes place in a town called Hope. A pack of wolves roam the community, and the villagers are eager to take them out.

         Enter biologist Helen and her partner Dan who come to the town to protect the endangered wolves from harm. Needless to say, there are those in town who aren’t too happy to see them. Heading the angry mob is brute rancher Buck Calder.

         While on her mission to save the wolves, Helen falls in love with Buck Calder‘s 18 year old son, Luke. Luke has a stuttering problem and brings constant shame to his father as a result. All Luke wants is his father’s approval. It doesn’t help that he loves the wolves and does not want to see any harm come to them. He and Helen team up, determined to do what they feel is right, no matter what the consequences.

          This is a book about man vs. beast. It’s a story about father vs. son. And it’s got a little Romeo & Juliet love story on the side.

          This was the second Nicholas Evans book I read. The first was The Horse Whisperer. I liked the book when I was 16. Helen had a feisty quality to her that appealed to me. And I wasn’t as much of a book snob back then, so I didn’t mind if the prose was clunky or if the characters were two-dimensional.

         As for the ending, I don’t know what to make of it. I think Evans may have been given a hard time for ending The Horse Whisperer the way he did, and so he decided to make the ending of this novel a little more palatable, in an ambiguous sort of way. That’s my guess at least. The ending could be taken in two different ways, and that’s all I’m going to say.

         I would give this book three stars.