Beartooth - Hardcover

by Callan Wink (Author)

The Economist 40 Best Books of 2025 * Apple's Best Books of the Year * Hudson Best of the Year * Kirkus Best Books of 2025 * Wall Street Journal Best Mysteries of 2025

"Skip Yellowstone for this rawer version of the West."--The New York Times Book Review

"Readers who brave the wilderness with these mismatched brothers--and a supporting cast of eccentric characters--are in for a grand adventure rendered in rich, atmospheric prose. This outdoor thriller wouldn't be misplaced on a shelf alongside certain tales by Faulkner, Hemingway or Steinbeck."--Wall Street Journal

"This taut, compelling novel explores the great outdoors--and a realm of moral uncertainty. . . . A ferociously gripping book."--The Economist

Two brothers in dire straits, living on the edge of Yellowstone, agree to a desperate act of survival in this taut, propulsive novel reminiscent of the works of C.J. Box, Donald Ray Pollock, and Larry McMurtry.

Thad and Hazen live off the grid, struggling with debt after the death of their father. Thad, the elder brother, is the capable one, while Hazen is a dreamer, more in tune with the wilderness than with people. Then a shadowy out-of-towner called the Scot appears--dressed in a kilt and with a mysterious young woman in tow. He makes the brothers a proposition that is both lucrative and a federal crime--removing resources from Yellowstone National Park, a scheme that becomes more appealing when their long-gone mother shows up, raising troubling questions about the past. A contemporary tale with a timeless feel, Beartooth explores the bonds between brothers, the natural world versus society, and what happens when everything you believed to be true is turned on its head--for worse and for better.

Author Biography

Callan Wink has been awarded fellowships by the National Endowment for the Arts and Stanford University, where he was a Wallace Stegner Fellow. His stories and essays have been published in the New Yorker, Granta, Playboy, Men's Journal, and The Best American Short Stories. He is the author of a novel, August, and a collection of short stories, Dog Run Moon. He lives in Livingston, Montana, where he is a fly-fishing guide on the Yellowstone River.