Review: A good wilderness thriller
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 24, 2013
On the shore of Lake Superior lies the town of Jackfish. It's a ghost town that has been abandoned for several years but it holds many secrets. In 1883 Chinese laborers were building a railroad and Tiger Chang was using the workers to support his opium business. Tiger sent a letter home to China about a discovery he made that would secure the future of his family's business but he made it in the form of a riddle. Flash forward to the present when Dragon Chang arrives in Jackfish to search for his great grandfather's discovery and further expand his family's drug empire.There is more than that going on in Jackfish though, a wild man as the locals call him has moved into the ghost town and he doesn't like Dragon and his crew on his land. His name is Phil and he is looking to escape his past and live in the wilderness away from civilization. Also adding to the story is a local cop named April who has come to investigate the visitors to Jackfish. She has a rough past of her own and may be in over her head.Jackfish Reborn by Rejean Giguere is a thriller but not your ordinary thriller. Its set mostly in the wild around Lake Superior and includes a lot of wildlife references that I enjoyed. Phil sees a lot of animals around his home and the book has good descriptions of a bear attack, a battle between a wolf and moose and an encounter with a cougar.  I liked all of the characters in this book but Phil was my favorite because it was like he was in a battle with himself. He is looking for a change and trying to forget all of the things that happened in his past, but he doesn't seem to be able to leave his past behind no matter how hard he tries.Another thing that really kept me wanting to read this book was trying to find out what Tiger's discovery was. All you know is that it will change Dragon's life and he doesn't want anyone else to find it. I enjoyed how the suspense in the story increases as you hear how this discovery is effecting all of the characters, even though they don't know what it is. Also in the story April has an abusive ex-husband that added another dimension to the tale and made things interesting.There are four major storylines that are masterfully woven together here and each character has a lot of depth. I liked the fact that the story is set mostly in the wild because I don't think it would have worked as well if it was set in a city. I felt it made Jackfish Reborn more interesting and I liked how the wildlife added to the action that was in the last half of the story. In my opinion Jackfish Reborn is a story about accepting your past and not letting it dictate your future. This book was one great thrill ride and I highly recommend it.