WHITE MALE HEART

Set in the isolated wilderness of the Highlands in contemporary Scotland, Nicoll's fiction debut captures the raw beauty of the region and the earthy simplicity of life there. The robust clarity of his prose is completely in tune with his subject; the reader can easily understand why young protagonist Hugh MacIntyre both loves his home and feels so restless. Hugh and Aaron Harding, Hugh's best friend since childhood, have been hunting together for as many years as they can remember, mentored by Mac Seruant, an iconoclastic, misogynist poacher. Mac's behavior alone would make him an outcast in Huil, the local village, but the fact that he's black magnifies his ostracism. A pivotal early scene in the novel occurs at a small festival, where Mac's Jack Russell terrier goes for the throat of a gentle whippet that has just won a race. When the local minister, known derisively as "The Rod," upbraids Mac, the poacher shoots his own dog dead on the spot. At the same festival, Hugh meets a cure for his restlessness in the person of Becky, a young woman from London nursing a broken heart. The closer Hugh gets to Becky (his first love), the more resentment Aaron feels, even though he has his own girl, the too-obedient Alison. After Becky makes the mistake of advising Alison to stand up to Aaron, Mac coolly advises Aaron to get rid of Becky. While this threat adds heat and tension to the novel, the depth of Nicoll's characters and the harsh, fully realized natural world in which they move make it as much a coming-of-age story as a psychological thriller. With a breathtaking denouement, it's an auspicious debut. (Apr.)

FYI:Nicoll's novel is among the first efforts of this new publishing company in Boston, which also issues mystery and crime fiction under the Kate's Mystery Books imprint.