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

“Yech, what a way to go.” Lawton could face a bullet; he’d had criminals shoot at him before but this…this was gut-twisting, a terrible death no matter what. Lawton had read a graphic description of a grizzly bear killing campers in Yellowstone Park when he was about ten years old. The primal horror of that story never left him. “So, any advice?”


Gary chortled. “Yeah. Watch out for the owner.”


Lawton was working at the HCSO District Three substation, off Gunn Highway when the noon news broadcast came on and, sure enough, there was a report about an escaped tiger from a refuge out on Morris Bridge Road. The video didn’t show much, just some shots of torn cages. The reporter was solemn. “The refuge owner, Jared Montaine, has refused comment.”


Chapter 53