Of all the Walt Longmire novellas Craig Johnson has written over the years, this one stands out as the most suspenseful yet. Even knowing that the events take place in the past and that Walt and Henry survive, I still found myself on the edge of my seat. Set on Alaska's North Slope in December 1970, the story unfolds with Walt freshly returned from Vietnam and not yet ready to settle into married life with Martha back in Wyoming. Henry arrives to visit, curious about why Walt has taken a job as security for an oil company instead of returning home.

When the oil company is tasked with escorting a U.S. Geological Survey scientist to collect samples, Walt accompanies his coworkers, and Henry joins as additional support. The primary danger seems to be the threat of polar bear attacks, and a larger group offers better protection. What follows is a classic adventure-horror story that delivers spine-tingling chills. A polar bear with an eerie ability to slip silently in and out of sight and an insatiable thirst for blood, a legendary ghost ship, a ferocious winter storm, and the relentless darkness of the Arctic Circle at the winter solstice create a haunting atmosphere of dread, while the twisting plot keeps the pages turning.

This exceptional addition to Johnson's long-running Walt Longmire series is not to be missed.

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I made the text more concise and clarified some of the descriptions for better flow and impact.

While not your typical Longmire novel, this novella is an excellent example of what made the Longmire series so popular. A good story, concerning Walt being assigned as security on an artic expedition, along with an interesting mystery, who or what is killing expedition members, and typical logical behavior by Walt. It should be noted that the story is told via flashback as something that happened to Walt and Henry not long after they returned from serving in Vietnam.

Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson is the latest telling of Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear's adventures after coming home from Vietnam. Walt is working on the North Slope of Alaska as head of security and Henry comes to visit. They are tasked with flying out to the edge of the ice to help a USGS employee find ice worms. When things go wrong, they really go wrong as the weather turns bad and they end up in the territory of a rogue polar bear. This story is guaranteed to keep one up at night while enjoying another story of the two men from Wyoming!

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

Walt has returned from his military service in Viet Nam, and has taken a job running security at an oil field in Alaska. Henry comes to visit and a field trip makes life a bit too interesting, including polar bears, a ghost ship and a blizzard. This was a superbly thrilling and fast paced novella.

Walt has always had a penchant for finding trouble (or maybe trouble is always finding him). After his service in Vietnam, Walt and Henry find themselves working for an oil company in the frozen Alaskan tundra. While on a mission away from oil company headquarters, Walt, Henry, and crew encounter a polar bear. Walt turns to Henry. "How fast can polar bears run?" "Twenty-five miles an hour." "And how fast will this thing go?" "Twenty-four miles an hour, but we can do it longer...I think."

Encountering a polar bear is bad enough, but there is something strange about this malformed creature. And it never helps when a storm rolls in, trapping the crew in the vicinity of a terrifying animal that begins picking off crew members one by one, not for survival but for pleasure.

This fast-paced, bone-chilling, and at times side-splitting short novel is well worth the read.