Texas novels come in all stripes, but leave it to veteran writer Robert Flynn of San Antonio to introduce the species of the tiger tale to this neck of the woods. Collaborating with the late Dan Klepper, Flynn has released The Devils Tiger, a wild story about a Russian veterinarian who accompanies three zoo-bound Siberian tigers on a flight to Houston. The plane crashes, the big cats escape, and the injured vet (who happens to be a total babe) must join forces with a taciturn hunter (who happens to be a handsome hunk) to track them down. Disaster, deadly predators, raging hormones—that’s already plenty of plot for any novel, but the story turns up the tension by having its tigers infected with a deadly virus. All this just screams “screenplay,” but Flynn and Klepper employ a writerly style that belies the cheap-thrills nature of the story. The authors also excel at evoking the desolate nature of the South Texas badlands while providing Deliverance-style rednecks, some suitably grim feline butchery, and—well, let’s not let the cat out of the bag.
