Customer Reviews

Alpha Female

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In Yellowstone National Park, Annie Peacock is chief justice of the judicial system. She is considered a rule book judge as she opposes judicial activism. Currently Annie has moved on with a divorce but struggles with anti-depressant usage.

Park ranger Will McCarroll feels strongly that the natural habitat and its residents deserve full protection and goes out of way to do so even when judges like Annie try to restrain him. They are squabbling over his protection of bison that she feels is way beyond the requirement. However, the judge and the ranger team up stop sportsmen and poachers from breaking federal law protecting wolves. Instead the outlaws target the ALPHA FEMALE wolf leading her pack and to insure Annie cooperates, they kidnap her mother.

The insight into Yellowstone, especially the superb refreshing look at park politics that emphasizes Tip O'Neill's theory that "all politics is local" and the super romantic subplot, is terrific. However, the thriller elements never gel as they seem to remain in the background even when Will and Annie team up to prevent illegal hunting and to rescue her mom. Still this is an engaging contemporary Yellowstone tale starring two strong, obstinate heroes going from enemies to beloved enemies while uniting in a common cause.

Harriet Klausner

Being a resident of Montana and a long-time advocate for Yellowstone, I first discovered Christofferson years ago with her book Clinical Trial set in Northwest Montana. This inspired me to read her powerful novel focused on the plight of the Yellowstone bison, Buffalo Medicine. With Alpha Female Christofferson takes her talents for plot, character development and suspense to a new level entirely. Anyone who loves Yellowstone must read this book. Alpha Female is authentic and clearly demonstrates Christofferson's understanding and firsthand knowledge of Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding landscape.

Reading Alpha Female in the middle of winter while the Montana landscape is blanketed under a thick layer of snow vividly transported me to a summer Yellowstone. Christofferson describes the enigmatic Yellowstone landscape in amazing detail and transports the reader to a wilderness wonderland.

With the current state of anti-wolf hysteria bellowing out of Montana's state capitol during the current legislative session, threatening to dismantle the tremendous success story that is the Yellowstone wolf recovery, this novel represents more than a can't put down thriller, but more importantly, a body of work that can hopefully inspire a greater tolerance for a majestic symbol of wildness.

Alpha Female is a beautiful and inspiring novel worthy of the Yellowstone landscape. One cannot help but fall in love with the rugged individual that is ranger Will McCarroll. And Annie is a character that anyone who has struggled will immediately connect with. Love, biology, landscape, suspense and of course, Yellowstone make this a memorable read that will stay with the read long after the book is finished.

On a side note, I recently had the great pleasure of listening to Ms. Christofferson speak and to meet one of my favorite Montana novelists. She is a remarkable woman who has a passion for her craft and the topics that she so brilliantly writes about.

Alpha Female is an important book that is hard to put down with countless twists and turns to keep the reader on edge and engaged in their own personal Yellowstone adventure. Can't wait for Christofferson's next environmental thriller...