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

Jared’s entrails twisted in his gut, the same wrench that swept over him when all the truly bad things that had happened in his life—Bethany, his father’s death, Hazel dying, even Juliana’s abandonment. It felt the same—he was ten years old again and wanted to burst into tears.


The main entrance gate was down; the ambulance drove right over it as it eased through the wreckage. A pine tree had slammed down onto Valerie’s office trailer. Wet papers lay flattened on the ground. The gift shop cabin was intact but its front window was smashed open. Postcards and books were scattered on its front deck. A stuffed tiger toy dangled in the broken latticework around its foundation.


Chapter 20