Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A teen helps his younger half sister avenge the death of her mother in this Civil War-era tale of hardship and friendship.One day in 19th-century Texas, a setting Crook (Monday, Monday, 2014, etc.) has used in three of her novels, a panther is mauling 6-year-old Samantha when her mother fights it long enough to save the girl but loses her own life. The incident leaves young Sam disfigured and bent on vengeance. Six years later, she and her half brother, Ben, having also lost their father to "fever," are living miserably by themselves when the big cat returns. Their efforts to trap the beast fall short, but they find an ally in a Mexican man named Pacheco while they make a dire enemy of a Confederate soldier named Hanlin, who aims a gun at Sam in their first confrontation and loses a finger when she gets off a lucky shot. Also lucky is Hanlin's knowledge of a dog in the vicinity that specializes in panther tracking and is owned by his uncle, Preacher Dob. After much palaver, Hanlin departs, for a time, while Dob and his old dog join the quest. The trek that follows recalls Cormac McCarthy's horseback meandering and keen eye for terrain and flora in The Crossing. There are also obvious echoes of True Grit, though Sam is even more fiercely single-minded than Mattie. Most unavoidable is the 90-ton whale in the room. Ben, the engaging narrator who delivers the story in the form of dispatches written for a judge weighing evidence against Hanlin, mentions early on that he has twice read Moby-Dick. He refers to it many more times for any reader who doesn't make a connection with Sam's obsessive drive to destroy an almost-mythic beast that scarred her face and is known to some as El Demonio.An entertaining picture of harsh, stark life in the Old West that maybe stretches plausibility a bit in pursuit of a good yarn. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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Crook's poignant, plainspoken fifth novel (after Monday, Monday) focuses on historical Texas, this time during the Civil War era. In a framing narrative, Benjamin Shreve recalls the signal events of his 14th year for a judge investigating crimes committed during the war. Eight-year-old Benjamin Shreve, his biracial half-sister, Samantha, and her mother, a former slave, are attacked by a wild panther near their isolated hill country home. Like Ahab-Benjamin has read Moby-Dick-Samantha cannot forget her animal nemesis, which kills her mother, disfigures her face, and is believed in the region to be demonic. When it returns six years later, she feels driven to track and kill it. With help from a Mexican man fleeing accusations of horse theft and the owner of a skilled "panther dog," the siblings pursue the beast despite its vicious savagery, the punishing Texas landscape, and the machinations of Clarence Hanlin, a rogue Confederate soldier from nearby Camp Verde who becomes embroiled in their mission. Though Samantha's obsession drives the story, her character never fully crystallizes, and the links to Melville's classic can feel forced. But Crook crafts Benjamin's narration beautifully, finding a winning balance between naiveté and wisdom, thoughtfulness and grit. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal
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Samantha Shreve remains an enigmatic character throughout Crook's new novel and emerges as a heroine in her wayward, single-minded resolve to end the life of the panther that killed her mother and left Samantha, then age six, scarred. The story unfolds in a series of letters written by Samantha's half brother, Benjamin, who recounts 17 years of his life in a humorous and beguiling mixture of literary formality and colloquialisms. He is just 13 and Samantha 11 when the orphans are forced to survive alone in the remote 1860s Texas Hill Country, where Comanche raids are frequent, as the Civil War encroaches. They live in constant fear of the legendary panther that keeps returning to the scene of the killing. Determined to confront the creature head-on, Samantha commands the aid of a thorny and reluctant cast of characters. She becomes a fierce avenger meting out justice, and considerable calamity, in unexpected ways. Born to a black mother, Samantha is viewed entirely through the eyes of her white brother. It should be noted that Benjamin repeatedly describes her as lazy and racial slurs are said by others. Teachers will notice the parallels to Moby Dick and may want to encourage comparisons. (Samantha is comparable to a female Captain Ahab and Benjamin to Ishmael.) VERDICT Teens will relate to the sibling dynamic, but the initial slow pace and the nuanced, multilayered story line are best suited for advanced -readers.-Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

While hunting near his Texas home at the end of the Civil War, Benjamin Shreve witnesses a Confederate soldier, Clarence Hanlin, picking the pockets of eight hanged men. The 17-year-old orphan is called to court to testify about what he saw. In letters to the judge, Benjamin tells the epic tale of the panther that killed his stepmother and disfigured his stepsister, Samantha. Clarence plays a bizarre role in the tale, helping and hindering Samantha's Ahab-like quest for vengeance against the panther. Benjamin, frank and quick-witted, tells a story that is absorbing and satisfying. He doesn't dwell on his hardships but focuses on Samantha's single-minded pursuit of the panther and the cold-blooded soldier who ended up in the middle of it all. VERDICT Spur Award-winning Crook's (The Night Journal; Monday, Monday) fifth novel will be a must-read for fans of Joe Lansdale's Western adventures and Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers. Readers new to the Western genre will be hooked if they start with this compelling novel.-Emily Hamstra, Seattle © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

In post-Civil War Texas, life was perilous. Homesteaders had to contend with Confederate soldiers (Sesesh, to the locals), Indians, and wildlife. Most dangerous was a legendary panther known in Mexico as El Demonio de Des Dedos, with a $2,000 bounty on its head. As 17-year-old Benjamin Shreve gives testimony against a Confederate soldier in 1866, Judge Edward Carlton asks for a longer written account, leading to the story of Benjamin's young life and his encounters with the panther. When Benjamin was eight years old and his half-sister, Samantha, was six, she was attacked by the panther in their yard, and when her mother came to her defense, the beast killed her. Samantha was left with facial scars and a burning desire to exact revenge. Six years later, their father dead and the panther returning, the two children take off to hunt El Demonio, eventually joining forces with Lorenzo Pachero and the Reverend Dobson with his panther-hunting dog, Zechariah. This is a story of unremitting deprivation allayed by unexpected kindness, with a dangerous chase motivated by love and suffused with humanity.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2018 Booklist