Roosevelt’s Beast

Teddy Roosevelt’s calamitous 1914 Amazon expedition with his son Kermit provides the background for this richly atmospheric novel from Edgar-finalist Bayard (The School of Night). The prologue, set in 1943 Alaska, makes plain the toll taken on Kermit, who, even years later, hallucinates that he sees skin and flesh peel off a friend’s skull. The main narrative chronicles the circumstances leading up to Kermit’s mental deterioration, as the difficult conditions of their trek to map the course of the so-called River of Doubt prove too much for Teddy. Kermit had just become engaged, and was successfully involved with developing the Brazil Railway Company when he was roped into joining the expedition. The ordinary rigors of travel through the rain forest pale in comparison with the danger posed by a legendary beast that disembowels its prey and that the locals believe to be connected with the North Americans. The predictable resolution makes this less successful than Bayard’s more complex intellectual thrillers. Agent: Christopher Schelling, Selectric Artists. (Mar.)