Claws

by Ozzie Cheek

When twenty-three lions, tigers, and ligers – a giant, hybrid cat – escape in rural Idaho, town officials decide to hold the first safari in America. Only police chief Jackson Hobbs, a man haunted by memories of a tragedy, and Katy Osborne, the sole white female hunting guide in Africa, seem to realize the danger of this decision. With the town desperate for money, Jackson's ex-wife, the mayor, and her boyfriend, a banker, are ademant that the Idaho Lion Hunt go forward even after people are killed. As the deaths mount and his own family is put at risk, Jackson must cope with a town doubled in population, deal with the dangerous cats, uncover the mystery of who engineered their escape, and investigate the activity of a local, anti-government militia. A willful teenage daughter, an animal rescue group, a missing little boy, a dead State Trooper, and Katy's desire to save a rare liger named Kali all add to the complications. Betrayal blossoms alongside romance as the story drives to the final showdown.

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Animals, Fiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

About the author

Ozzie Cheek was formerly a TV writer for HBO, Showtime, Fox, NBC, and CBS. He is the writer and producer of the TV movie Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. He also is co-author of Why Planes Crash, a memoir about an aviation disaster investigator. Claws is his first novel.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to follow

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ligers

This was a fast paced thriller. You take a bunch of lions, tigers and two ligers add in a militia in small town Idaho mix liberally and voila you got tons of action. The main character is the local chief of police, Jackson by name. along with him are more interesting characters. There is gore, but it is tastefully done. Do all the bad guys get their comeuppance well that would be telling too much. But if you your wild animal attacks fast and furious, the personal drama interesting and good guy to root for. Then this is one to read.

[Jane K. Stecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written thriller

If you enjoy man against nature stories, you will love this one. Characters to care about, plot twists and turns, plenty of action, what’s not to like? Check out the liger videos on YouTube to get an idea of the size and strength of these huge animals. Should we try to breed them? This book will answer your questions.

[George A Gusick Sr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Mystery

Thank you Ozzie Cheek for a truly exciting and curious story. I did not want to put it down ever and am sorry that it is over, I have not felt this since some my favorite Stephen King classic or “to kill a mockingbird.” Character development was excellent and the storyline was exceptional. I look forward to more Ozzie Cheek books.

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you can't tell, I loved this book. I just picked it up as a Halloween horror read, and I inhaled it. If you love books/movies like Jaws where nature goes wild, a normal animal behaves in monstrous, beastly freak fashion, then this book is for you. I never heard of Cheek, but he groomed his writing chops on television, and it shows because the novel unfolds in a cinematic, visual fashion.

Here, a nature preserve in Idaho has been housing 23 big cats that have somehow escaped their confines. Now, lions, tigers, and a pair of hybrid ligers that are easily double the size of either beast, roam the surrounding land with the obvious objective of hunting, and feeding on whatever the prey they can find. A child has been lost in the environs, and the female liger is pregnant, making her ever more dangerous.

Police chief Jackson Hobbs, fully realizing he is out of his element enlists the assistance of a hunter, Katy Osborne who was on a book tour in Colorado. His ex-wife and mayor of the town decides to commercialize the hunt and finds that she has inadvertently made things worse, because she may be ringing a dinner bell rather than kill the animals.

This is a well-written, independently published novel that I am quite pleased to call my first Halloween read of the season. It is not a traditional monster horror, but neither was Jaws and I still get agitated at the beach. (I live in Puerto Rico very close to the beach so there's that.) Not a perfect book, but there are no half stars so I opted to go high rather than call it a four-star read.

[Scott Shjefte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Purchased this item on October 7, 2023, from Amazon for free. Fairly bloody big cat hunt in Idaho.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have ever watched one of those B movies from the 1950's where out-of-control animals attack unsuspecting people and the authorities have a difficult time figuring out how to get everything out of control under control . . .this is just what reading this book is like: a B movie, except for the 21st century, although not as good as "Tremors."
It's a fantasy of just bizarre and illogical happenings that one might hear around a campfire. The big out-of-control animals are Ligers. It just made me groan with the stupidity of it all (and laugh at the same time), but the setting was in Idaho, so I read it, and I am very familiar with the locations (even though there were a lot of fictional places mixed in). I found it entertaining and at the same time disappointing. The farming community in Idaho and the police are far more educated than portrayed in the book. It's as if the author was imagining Mayberry when he wrote the story. There are over 60 characters in the book with names that are so odd that they are not found in Idaho, so it's like reading something out of a alternative universe, hence I shelved it with my fantasy books.
For people who are senstive to violence involving animals and humans . . .yes, animals and humans are attacked and killed in this book and it's descriptive. Big cats are predators.
I recommend it for a bit of entertainment and if read with a mind-set not to take the story too seriously. A note about the location of Buckhorn, Idaho: I listed it as fictional because I could not find a city of Buckhorn as described in the book; "an hour drive from St. Anthony." It may be there. However, the place name Buckhorn is a real place name in Idaho for an area near the City of McCall, where I spent 10 days backpacking in the Buckhorn Moutains, which is a 7 hour drive away from St. Anthony.
Locations/Settings: [Eastern Idaho: Buckhorn (fictional) about an hour drive from St. Anthony, Fremont County, Idaho Falls; Colorado: Denver (Oxford Hotel), Kremmling (Antler Street); Utah: Salt Lake City; Mentioned: Rexburg Idaho, Pocatello Idaho, Fort Collins Colorado, Browning Montana, The Tevis Cup – Western States Trail Ride, Lake Tahoe and Sierra Nevada Mountains
California, Boulder Colorado (Dushanbe Tea House), Pagosa Springs Colorado, Bakersfield California, Botswana Africa]

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well-defined & memorable. The action never stopped. The author's writing was wonderful, though there were a few mistakes that halted the flow of reading. Such as, "One the tigers" instead of "One of the tigers" or "They was going" instead of "They were going". Didn't take away from the story just didn't feel as stream-lined as it should have been. Overall, though, the book was wonderful. It had my attention from beginning to end with at least 3 audible gasps and a couple oooh's. I'd read it again.

[Rodney Moorhead · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent read.