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Angie Rippard #1
Claws
Something stalks the citizens of Arizona... Dr. Angie Rippard is an Arizona wildlife biologist who is drawn into a police investigation when two teenagers are found dead on a golf course that borders protected National Forest Land. Rippard suspects the teens were attacked by a large mountain lion. Backed into a corner, it knows no fear... Rippard believes that the resort was developed too close to wilderness lands, but her plan to relocate cougars in the area provokes the wrath of the resort's owner-Charlie Rutledge-who believes the animals should be exterminated. Eight million years have shaped its predatory skill... Deep inside the Tonto National Forest, Rippard and her grad students realize that Charlie Rutledge is hunting them. In a thrilling climax, Rippard must make a choice to kill the cougar that is certain to kill Charlie Rutledge, or kill Rutledge who is certain to kill her. Now we are the endangered species.
228 pages, Paperback
First published January 2, 2009
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124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 16, 2009
(Okay I'm copying and pasting the review from blog - hopefully it's not too long)
Before I review Claws by Stacey Cochran I feel that in the name of complete disclosure I should state that I got this book for free. And how I got the book for free is a tale.
A few years back I came across Stacey's first novel Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone and was initially leery of buying it because the title was a tad Harry Potterish. But there was a sample chapter available, so I took a look and then bought it. It was enjoyable contemporary fantasy yarn, so I reviewed on the Lulu site where I'd purchased it. It was a broadly but not entirely positive review. A little later I got a nice email from Stacey thanking me for the balanced review and asking if I'd post it on Amazon, which I duly did since it was hardly a chore.
A while later he brought out the sequel The Colorado Sequence and I bought it. Rather amazingly I found myself mentioned in the credits in that novel. It was even better and I wrote an even more positive review - that I was only able to post on Amazon UK, because by that time Amazon was only allowing you to review things if you'd made a purchase and I've never bought from Amazon US.
So fast forward to now. He's bringing out his third novel Claws, and I want to buy it. Like his previous two novels it's self-published and this time he's chosen to go with CreateSpace for reasons I quite understand to do with making an affordable product. Unfortunately books published through CreateSpace are only available on Amazon US, and the Kindle (there's a Kindle Edition for 80 cents) is not released in the UK yet for technical reasons that have no place in this discussion. So I couldn't buy one. Having exchanged occasional emails with Stacey since my review of Coral Stone I commented on this to him and he sent me a signed copy!
So having established that I'm quite the fan of Stacey's you probably won't be too shocked that this is a broadly positive review. :-D
--
Claws is actually not a book I would have expressed an interest in if I hadn't already been a fan of Stacey Cochran's work. I'm a very fussy reader in my way - not so much about grammar and spelling (unless it's egregious) but I generally only read Speculative Fiction. Claws is a thriller, but it's not really SpecFic. However when - as here - a writer I like ventures into a genre I don't normally read I'll usually give it a go.
This is probably why - even though I can tell it's superior to his previous novels in writing skill and plotting I find that I don't like it quite as much as I did the other two.
That said I do like it. It's a tense and gripping thriller and I'd love to see a movie of it (I don't generally read thrillers but I love to watch them).
The novel is not amazingly deep (it's a thriller who expects depth?) but it still raises some interesting issues about wildlife conservation versus public safety without being preachy. The setup is quite simple - a mountain lion is stalking and killing people on a resort in Arizona - possibly because the place has been built too close to the wild. The Protagonist wants to relocate it while the resort owner (a thoroughly nasty piece of work) wants to kill it.
Stacey calls this book a mountain lion version of Jaws. I can see why, but I don't entirely think this does it justice. This isn't just Jaws with a big cat - there's more to it than that. Ironically though this book does suffer from a flaw I also found in in Benchley's "masterwork" when I tried to read it. (And there's one up for you Stacey - I finished Claws I gave up in the middle of Jaws). Both novels seem at times to lose a little focus by getting too caught up in the personal problems of the protagonists. Personal conflict usually enriches a novel - but not if it detracts from the thrill in thriller. But in Claws this isn't a deal breaker for me (it was in Jaws). I still found this a decent story.
And I couldn't help recognising a character who appeared in the very last scene as having also appeared in the last scene of Coral Stone. I'm not sure if this is a hint of a Stephen Kingesque metaverse or the guy is simply based on someone Stacey encountered in Hawaii. Maybe it's an Easter Egg? I don't know, but it amused me.
My thoughts - if you like thrillers with all that entails then Claws is certainly a worthy read in my opinion. And if you own a Kindle then at 80 cents you're hardly going to cry over wasted cash if you hate it.
Before I review Claws by Stacey Cochran I feel that in the name of complete disclosure I should state that I got this book for free. And how I got the book for free is a tale.
A few years back I came across Stacey's first novel Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone and was initially leery of buying it because the title was a tad Harry Potterish. But there was a sample chapter available, so I took a look and then bought it. It was enjoyable contemporary fantasy yarn, so I reviewed on the Lulu site where I'd purchased it. It was a broadly but not entirely positive review. A little later I got a nice email from Stacey thanking me for the balanced review and asking if I'd post it on Amazon, which I duly did since it was hardly a chore.
A while later he brought out the sequel The Colorado Sequence and I bought it. Rather amazingly I found myself mentioned in the credits in that novel. It was even better and I wrote an even more positive review - that I was only able to post on Amazon UK, because by that time Amazon was only allowing you to review things if you'd made a purchase and I've never bought from Amazon US.
So fast forward to now. He's bringing out his third novel Claws, and I want to buy it. Like his previous two novels it's self-published and this time he's chosen to go with CreateSpace for reasons I quite understand to do with making an affordable product. Unfortunately books published through CreateSpace are only available on Amazon US, and the Kindle (there's a Kindle Edition for 80 cents) is not released in the UK yet for technical reasons that have no place in this discussion. So I couldn't buy one. Having exchanged occasional emails with Stacey since my review of Coral Stone I commented on this to him and he sent me a signed copy!
So having established that I'm quite the fan of Stacey's you probably won't be too shocked that this is a broadly positive review. :-D
--
Claws is actually not a book I would have expressed an interest in if I hadn't already been a fan of Stacey Cochran's work. I'm a very fussy reader in my way - not so much about grammar and spelling (unless it's egregious) but I generally only read Speculative Fiction. Claws is a thriller, but it's not really SpecFic. However when - as here - a writer I like ventures into a genre I don't normally read I'll usually give it a go.
This is probably why - even though I can tell it's superior to his previous novels in writing skill and plotting I find that I don't like it quite as much as I did the other two.
That said I do like it. It's a tense and gripping thriller and I'd love to see a movie of it (I don't generally read thrillers but I love to watch them).
The novel is not amazingly deep (it's a thriller who expects depth?) but it still raises some interesting issues about wildlife conservation versus public safety without being preachy. The setup is quite simple - a mountain lion is stalking and killing people on a resort in Arizona - possibly because the place has been built too close to the wild. The Protagonist wants to relocate it while the resort owner (a thoroughly nasty piece of work) wants to kill it.
Stacey calls this book a mountain lion version of Jaws. I can see why, but I don't entirely think this does it justice. This isn't just Jaws with a big cat - there's more to it than that. Ironically though this book does suffer from a flaw I also found in in Benchley's "masterwork" when I tried to read it. (And there's one up for you Stacey - I finished Claws I gave up in the middle of Jaws). Both novels seem at times to lose a little focus by getting too caught up in the personal problems of the protagonists. Personal conflict usually enriches a novel - but not if it detracts from the thrill in thriller. But in Claws this isn't a deal breaker for me (it was in Jaws). I still found this a decent story.
And I couldn't help recognising a character who appeared in the very last scene as having also appeared in the last scene of Coral Stone. I'm not sure if this is a hint of a Stephen Kingesque metaverse or the guy is simply based on someone Stacey encountered in Hawaii. Maybe it's an Easter Egg? I don't know, but it amused me.
My thoughts - if you like thrillers with all that entails then Claws is certainly a worthy read in my opinion. And if you own a Kindle then at 80 cents you're hardly going to cry over wasted cash if you hate it.
December 7, 2009
Something is hunting the local occupants near Tucson, Arizona, and Dr. Angie Rippard is determined to find out what…and protect whatever it is at all costs. As an expert on mountain lions, also known as cougars and pumas, Rippard is dedicated to preserving these beautiful animals. But as the attacks continue and more and more people die, she struggles with her philosophy that the cat should be captured and relocated, and not exterminated, more and more difficult to maintain.
How do you balance the challenge of protecting an endangered species, a species that has been on the mountains for thousands of years, against the cardinal rule that human life must be preserved at all costs? Rippard is shocked to learn that one attack has taken place on a golf course that is only fifty feet from National Forest Land and the natural habitat for the mountain lion. The protective borders are hazy as a result of encroachment by humans. Land deals that shouldn’t have been allowed and a greed for land in beautiful areas has resulted in eroding the mountain lion’s natural habitat. The balance point is tipping. A forest fire in Arizona the previous year has meant that the hunting grounds are even smaller, with less prey, and the cats are hungry. The attacks continue and Rippard comes to realize that she is up against a mountain lion that is different than all of the rest. This one hunts humans. Rippard puts together a team to locate and dart the animal so it can be relocated.
But it is a race against time as there is another mountain lion expert who wants to track the animal, but only to kill it - Charlie “the Chopper” Rutledge. An entrepreneur worth millions, Rutledge specializes in building mountain resorts and golf courses in stunning mountainous locations. And if he has to chop down ten thousand acres of trees in order to build them, well then, that’s what he will do. With his eye on land close to the border of the Arizona National Forest for his next multi-million dollar development, the last thing Rutledge needs is a mountain lion attacking the tourists and locals. He loves hunting and decides to go after it himself. He warns off Rippard, hating her “treehugging” ways, telling her that if she tries to protect the animal he will attack her too!
Dr. Angie Rippard is a strong female protagonist in this novel. An expert in her field, a strong personality, warm and empathetic to those she loves, passionate about her cause, she is an eco-warrior and a learned professor. In her classes she takes a holistic approach, making sure her students know not just about the animals but the flora and fauna too, and the impact that humans have on the local ecosystems. And in the field, Rippard needs all the knowledge she has about the habits of mountain lions if she is going to protect them.
The attack scenes are quite violent, and I am not just talking about the big cat scenes. Charlie “The Chopper” Rutledge lives up to his name and causes carnage amongst the people ranged against him. Be warned, the body count at the end of the book is quite high! However, despite of, or indeed due to, this novel is an exciting, heart-stopping rollercoaster ride of a book.
Stacey Cochran is a writer, producer and teacher. His books include The Colorado Sequence, Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone, and The Kiribati Test. He was a finalist for the 1998 Dell Magazines Award for undergraduate fiction writing and a 2004 finalist for the St Martin’s Press/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest. He teaches writing at North Carolina State University, and hosts an author-interview TV show in Raleigh.
How do you balance the challenge of protecting an endangered species, a species that has been on the mountains for thousands of years, against the cardinal rule that human life must be preserved at all costs? Rippard is shocked to learn that one attack has taken place on a golf course that is only fifty feet from National Forest Land and the natural habitat for the mountain lion. The protective borders are hazy as a result of encroachment by humans. Land deals that shouldn’t have been allowed and a greed for land in beautiful areas has resulted in eroding the mountain lion’s natural habitat. The balance point is tipping. A forest fire in Arizona the previous year has meant that the hunting grounds are even smaller, with less prey, and the cats are hungry. The attacks continue and Rippard comes to realize that she is up against a mountain lion that is different than all of the rest. This one hunts humans. Rippard puts together a team to locate and dart the animal so it can be relocated.
But it is a race against time as there is another mountain lion expert who wants to track the animal, but only to kill it - Charlie “the Chopper” Rutledge. An entrepreneur worth millions, Rutledge specializes in building mountain resorts and golf courses in stunning mountainous locations. And if he has to chop down ten thousand acres of trees in order to build them, well then, that’s what he will do. With his eye on land close to the border of the Arizona National Forest for his next multi-million dollar development, the last thing Rutledge needs is a mountain lion attacking the tourists and locals. He loves hunting and decides to go after it himself. He warns off Rippard, hating her “treehugging” ways, telling her that if she tries to protect the animal he will attack her too!
Dr. Angie Rippard is a strong female protagonist in this novel. An expert in her field, a strong personality, warm and empathetic to those she loves, passionate about her cause, she is an eco-warrior and a learned professor. In her classes she takes a holistic approach, making sure her students know not just about the animals but the flora and fauna too, and the impact that humans have on the local ecosystems. And in the field, Rippard needs all the knowledge she has about the habits of mountain lions if she is going to protect them.
The attack scenes are quite violent, and I am not just talking about the big cat scenes. Charlie “The Chopper” Rutledge lives up to his name and causes carnage amongst the people ranged against him. Be warned, the body count at the end of the book is quite high! However, despite of, or indeed due to, this novel is an exciting, heart-stopping rollercoaster ride of a book.
Stacey Cochran is a writer, producer and teacher. His books include The Colorado Sequence, Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone, and The Kiribati Test. He was a finalist for the 1998 Dell Magazines Award for undergraduate fiction writing and a 2004 finalist for the St Martin’s Press/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest. He teaches writing at North Carolina State University, and hosts an author-interview TV show in Raleigh.
July 24, 2010
Claws will grip you and not let go! This scary, plausible tale could be a harbinger of events to come if more and more natural lands are developed pushing wild animals to commit desperate measures of survival. This is the author’s message cleverly wrapped in a story about two hungry mountain lions hunting people for their next meal – something a mountain lion would not normally do in most circumstances. The fear and horror evoked in Claws makes one seriously think about man’s encroachment on natural lands.
June 15, 2009
The concept of Claws is interesting and the author shows a lot of promise as the story hooks the reader in the beginning. For me, however, the story began to fall apart from lack of character development. Granted, characters are placed in an extremely stressful situation but that situation is implausible and the actions of the characters incomprehensible. It's not enough to throw in a sentence about the behavior of characters that have been inadequately developed in the first place. More character background and insight would have turned this so-so story into a first rate thriller.
January 22, 2014
Claws took place in the Arizona wilderness, most of it. I found that immediately intriguing, as I am a resident of Arizona. Doubly, the main character was a big cat biologist, a secret passion of mine. The plot was heart-pounding, and the premise interesting...but I wasn't impressed with the way the characters were handled. I felt that more of the characters that became the victims were connectable than the actual main character herself. I feel that this book had extreme potential, but fell short with grammar mistakes and lack of character development.
January 5, 2012
First of all, this is not the kind of book I usually read. It was free on amazon, and I like free.
I feel like the main character was not developed at all! The characters that were developed happened moments before their death or the end of their part in the story. I like the main character's boyfriend, johns break down but wish there had been more to his character before this! Each character had glimpse of a deep character but fell short.
Ending kind of confused me.
I feel like the main character was not developed at all! The characters that were developed happened moments before their death or the end of their part in the story. I like the main character's boyfriend, johns break down but wish there had been more to his character before this! Each character had glimpse of a deep character but fell short.
Ending kind of confused me.
May 27, 2012
Just finished this novel, glad I got it for free on Kindle.
Ms. Cochran had a great story premise here, did the research and wrote a quite a yarn. My only real problems with the book is it needs editing, a lot of editing and some parts of the story were a little too far fetched.
Otherwise it was a entertaining and I found it hard to put down.
Ms. Cochran had a great story premise here, did the research and wrote a quite a yarn. My only real problems with the book is it needs editing, a lot of editing and some parts of the story were a little too far fetched.
Otherwise it was a entertaining and I found it hard to put down.
October 11, 2013
I thought this book was only ok. it was different and interesting but then again it was a little dry.. the character building wasn't very good.. I didn't care much about the characters. Im glad I read it but I wouldn't read it again. I think there's a claws 2 and I may take a gander at that but I'm not gonna drop everything to read it.
February 2, 2013
This was a solid action/adventure tale, and I really love stories about big cats. This one focused on mountain lions, and its setting out west was interesting to this Eastern gal.
I think this was one of Cochran's earlier books, and the POV wobbles and other mechanical issues were easy to let slide.
A fast, fun read. For the beach. Not if you're heading out west for a vacation. :)
I think this was one of Cochran's earlier books, and the POV wobbles and other mechanical issues were easy to let slide.
A fast, fun read. For the beach. Not if you're heading out west for a vacation. :)
August 19, 2012
The real reason whY I love animal attack novels is the sense of place, the rustic outdoors. Kudos to the author for bringing that to life. I loved the cougar story. However, the writing itself is lacking. But still a good read. I've read sequel.
June 21, 2009
Okay plot - I have to agree with other reviewers
that the characters were rather shallow. The
story seemed to move too quickly - almost at the
pace of a short story.
that the characters were rather shallow. The
story seemed to move too quickly - almost at the
pace of a short story.
February 22, 2011
Great read.
April 26, 2011
free on kindle at the time I read it. I don't care for this genre though.
September 10, 2016
Awful. It was a free kindle download and I still want my money back.
April 27, 2012
You'll think twice hiking alone in woods where cougars roam! A thrilling, fast-paced book, the author expertly sets your teeth on the edge in this tale... nuff said, read it and be amazed!
August 19, 2012
Claws.. One word
SUSPENCE!
A wild cat running around on a mountain just happening to mal people while their alone
October 8, 2012
terrible story. Do not recommend
Read
April 16, 2013This was a great book, really kept my attention while on the treadmill..
July 18, 2013
So-so thriller that is basically a mountain lion version of Jaws. Very two-dimensional characters. 2.5/5
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews