“His anger at the two-legged beasts will never abide. It is as much a part of him now as the instincts that make him a tiger. Revenge will become as sought out as food or water or a mate. All the cackling, two-legged creatures will die.”
― J.H. Smithson, Deadman
I RECENTLY wanted to explore a new reading experience while still sticking to my favourite topic of revenge.
In my search, I stumbled upon a unique narrative that approaches the Revenge Thriller genre from a fascinatingly different perspective. I was immediately captivated by Deadman, a novel by Canadian author J.H. Smithson. It’s a story about pain, suffering, empathy, cruelty, and, most importantly, vengeance. What sets Smithson’s story apart from other thriller novels is that it’s not a typical tale of a person seeking revenge against another human being or group of people. Instead, the protagonist in this non-fantasy story is an animal hunting humans for payback. [Image On Right Property Of J.H. Smithson.]
Nestled in the majestic Cariboo Mountains of northern British Columbia lies Deadman Lake, a tranquil oasis of warmth and beauty in the summer months. The year-round residents who call the lake’s shores home have learned to embrace the changing seasons, adapting to the cold and unforgiving winter months. However, this year is different, as a fierce blizzard descends upon the region, dumping two feet of snow overnight and isolating the small community from the outside world.
As if the snow and isolation weren’t enough to contend with, a terrifying danger soon emerges from the darkness. Without warning, a plane crashes into the forest, and from the wreckage emerges one of the most powerful killers to ever walk the planet. Weighing in at a staggering eight hundred pounds, this beast is fueled by an unrelenting hatred of humanity. Its sole drive is to seek vengeance against those who’ve wronged it, and it begins to hunt and devour everything in its path. The once carefree tiger living free in its homeland becomes consumed by a powerful, all-consuming hatred. The majestic animal feels a deep sense of rage towards the men who destroyed his family and thought to take him for sport. Think Emily Thorne in Revenge meets Jaws 4 because, this time, it’s personal!
The “animal hunting humans” narrative isn’t new, but the deep introspection and empathetic anthropomorphism I found in this novel are more infrequent. I’m thinking Arthur Herzog’s Orca, but where that novel does slip into camp dialogue, I found Deadman quite thoughtful and poignant. This is more than a Survivalist Thriller, though that’s very much a part of this tense, action-filled narrative. Deadman is a modern moral fable: a lesson in ethics, animal rights, and human conceit.
John Vaillant’s The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival is another work of a similar theme, but Smithson’s colourful characters, along with setting much of the novel in the Canadian wilderness, that brilliant “cunning, wild animal in a foreign habitat” angle, gives this story its own distinctive flavour.
This book is undeniably gripping and captivating, but it’s not for the faint of heart. The author’s storytelling is vivid and evocative, and it will pull you in, urging you to keep reading, even when the scenes become gory and bloody. If you’re an animal lover or even just empathetic to another’s suffering, animal or human, and cannot bear to witness their agony, then be warned—this book will be triggering for you. It wasn’t always an easy read for me.
The mental stressors and physical horrors unfolding in these pages are many and varied, and the writing is so effective in getting these aspects across on the page that you’ll definitely feel a wide range of emotions. And I’m sure that’s the author’s intent. Despite the grim subject matter, J. H. Smithson’s writing skill and his enjoyment of storytelling come across vividly in Deadman. I’d like to see more from this author and hope he continues producing more work focused on a Canadian setting.
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