A man. A tiger. A tornado. Jared Montaine owns a big cat rescue in Florida and faces financial pressures, getting over his ex-wife, and the challenge of suburbia creeping ever closer to his enclave for the animals. But when a tornado wrecks part of the refuge, Jared's worst fear comes to life: his Siberian tiger, Sultan, escapes. It's a big cat handler’s nightmare: a tiger on the loose, confused, lost -- and hungry. Jared races against the police, the media, and the hysterical public, all of whom are clamoring for the tiger's hide. He must re-capture Sultan before the cat is killed -- by traffic, by SWAT, or by a civilian who just wants to shoot a tiger. With fellow wildlife handlers at his side, Jared fights desperately to find and capture Sultan before the tiger injures or kills a human. Because that would lead to his worst nightmare -- having to kill the tiger he hand-raised from a cub. Jared’s commitment is tested -- to his animals, his refuge, and his belief that saving the life of even one tiger is worth losing everything.

The Tiger Whisperer

“That’s Tasha, before we rescued her. That sonofabitch never did a day in jail. Took me eighteen months to even get in a cage with her and you can’t really handle her. She’s never recovered. Dr. Stint says she has brain damage plus she’s blind in that one eye. She can’t play, she never lets her guard down enough.” Five years later and he couldn’t keep the anger out of his deep voice. That Jared could have gone to jail himself that day, he didn’t mention. He’d grabbed the baseball bat and hit the handler three times before Peter stopped him. The baseball bat was under Jared’s bed, stained with brown splotches.


David looked at him; his teeth gnawed his lips. “That’s disgusting.”


“So, we get them from places like that and give them a home here. They’re safe, they’re fed, they get medical treatment.” Jared rose and walked to the window that overlooked the refuge. “And they’re loved.”


Chapter 7