Ballistics

The rugged individualism and frontier spirit of the Canadian Rockies are fully on display in Wilson’s impressive debut novel. In 1969, Archer Cole has already served two tours as a Marine in Vietnam when Uncle Sam taps him to return to the war, and the battle-weary veteran decides to flee his native Montana for Canada with his teenage daughter, Linnea, in tow. They make it as far as Invermere, a rural hamlet in British Columbia’s Kootenay Valley, where they meet Cecil West, a welder by trade, and his young son, Jack. After the Wests take in Archer, he is smitten by the redheaded Nora Miller, Cecil’s fiancée. As Archer and Nora begin a secret affair, Jack falls in love with Linnea. After she gives birth to their son, Alan, the two families fall apart. Twenty-nine years later, in 2003, Alan is home from university when his grandfather Cecil suffers a heart attack. Hoping to see his son one last time, Cecil tasks Alan with finding Jack, who’s long been estranged from both his father and son. Wilson’s muscular prose and gritty voice, which recall the late crime novelist James Crumley, bring to life Alan’s fateful attempt to discover whether the old family hatreds and grudges can be overcome. Agent: Karolina Sutton, Curtis Brown (U.K.). (June)