A cinematic, propulsive novel about a heist gone wrong and the bond between two brothers, for readers of American Rust and The Devil All the Time.
“Skip Yellowstone for this rawer version of the West.” New York Times Book Review
“A novel of impeccable control and unflinching darkness. And then a glimmer of hope.”—Kirkus (starred review)
“An atmospheric and superbly executed drama ..." The Guardian
“One of the best and fiercest heist stories since A Simple Plan . . . Beartooth is unstoppable, the literary treasure you’ve been looking for.” Junot Diaz
Beartooth is a novel about two survivalist brothers in desperate straits, who are lured into committing a crime in Yellowstone National Park. Thad and Hazen, long ago abandoned by their wayward mother, are drowning in medical bills and notices about back taxes. They live alone in an aging, timber house hand-built into the leeside of the Beartooth Mountains. Thad’s the older brother, responsible, a loner, the caretaker of Hazen, who is a little . . . different. Until recently, they made ends meet the same way their father did: by working thirteen-hour days up and down the mountain splitting firewood, selling the cords door-to-door. When a menacing figure named The Scot appears with a lucrative proposition to extract stolen artifacts out of Yellowstone, the brothers can’t refuse, despite the staggering odds and the enormous risk. Evoking the most timeless voices of American pastoral storytelling, from John Steinbeck to Cormac McCarthy, Beartooth is a bracing, profoundly moving novel about survival, revenge, and escape.