Sleeping Bear by Connor Sullivan

Cassandra Gale grew up on a Montana ranch owned by her father, Jim. Sister is Emily who is recently married and they left their previous life to live on the ranch. Cassie was the outdoors child of the two. She is also a warrior. The 3^rd woman to ever graduate from the US Army Ranger school. Married a career soldier with multiple deployments. 

But Cassie is seriously depressed – six months ago, her husband is found dead and she miscarried.

In an attempt at healing, Cassie takes a short-term job as a back country guide in Alaska. On the drive up, she stops at a local Canadian dive for a bite and a night’s sleep before crossing into Alaska. The end of this first day’s drive into Alaska is a riverside campsite. She sets up camp . . . and disappears.

The outfitter calls Jim Gale about Cassie’s whereabouts. And the search begins. Jim, Emily and her hubby head up to Cassie’s last known location. Nothing. Jim is a pushy sort and gets the Alaska Bureau of Investigation, the RCMP, local cops, and the concerned citizenry to join the search.

Nothing. There are many ways to die in Alaska.

The search stalls and Jim goes to the Fairbanks office of the FBI. Not much help there either. But there is this retired agent who has been kept around and he keeps track of missing person cases in Alaska, of which there are thousands. And Cassie’s case fit a peculiar pattern he has been following.

Coming out of the FBI’s office, Jim notices he is being followed. Two vans unload, abduct and expertly subdue Jim. A plane awaits. As the plane climbs to its low-level cruising altitude, Jim calls on skills long abandoned from a time when an exfil went south. Memories from both sides of that failure have simmered, but never forgotten.

I hope I haven’t said too much.

Sleeping Bear is the debut thriller from Connor Sullivan. The brief bio says he won awards for creative writing as a student at Univ Southern California and now lives in Montana. That’s about it. Usually there are clues to the author's experiences. This is curious to me. Why?

Because THIS STORY KICKS SOME SERIOUS ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!

It starts out as a cry for help for Cassie’s loss. The loss escalates when she disappears, and the family pushes the hunt for her in the wilderness. Then, the hunt again escalates when we learn more about what might’ve happened to her. And escalates AGAIN when we learn about Jim’s past life and how a simple family photo causes a woman’s disappearance to become a potential prelude to a superpower confrontation.

I kind of like reading debut books. Puts you on the front side of the curve. My current fav is Brian Panowich who writes mountain noir and has three stunning books out. Another terrific debut was Alex Berensen’s The Faithful Spy. But I think this could be the most auspicious debut for a thriller writer I’ve ever read. At the risk of being derivative, I have to say that this book is STELLAR, PULSE POUNDING, EXCITING, BREATHLESS, CAPTIVATING, INTENSE, A WHITE KNUCKLER. Add any praiseworthy synonyms if you wish. Trust me. They’ll all fit.

A one sitting read? Oh, yeah. Late night reading? Absolutely. Can’t put it down? You won’t want to.

Oh, and I probably shouldn’t have to mention this . . . again . . . but I will. It’s an Emily Bestler Books title. How does she find writers with such extraordinary talent? To wit: Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, John Connolly, Chris Hauty, Jack Carr, etc. etc. etc. I don’t know how many toads (book proposals) she has to read to find a star in the making, but her stable of authors shows she knows of what she likes. From where I sit, she has the knack for uncovering new A-list authors.

And I have to offer some serious props to the great folks at Simon & Schuster’s Atria for sending the advance copy. Sleeping Bear is a top shelf sensational debut.

But before you get too antsy, the proposed release date is July 6, 2021 so mark your calendars. 

East Coast Don