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

“Rock? Hulk? Come on boy, bring him out here.” Cletus fumbled with the rifle and tried to sight in the darkness.


Didn’t think to bring my jacklight. Shit. I’ll just have to shoot him this way.


The Rottweiler backed closer to Cletus, maybe ten yards away. A blur of quick movement in the rifle’s eyepiece, a blurred flash of something huge. Cletus pulled his eye away from the rifle and saw the tiger pounce on his dog.


The dog shrieked once and the pitiful sound was cut off as the tiger’s jaws clamped down.


The tiger lifted the rottie’s body in his jaws, lifted it easily, even though the dog weighed a hundred and twenty pounds.


Oh he can’t be lifting that dog, oh he’s so big, oh my God, that’s a real tiger.


The tiger dropped the dog and snarled, looking directly at him.


Cletus felt warm piss sluice down his left leg.


Chapter 50