Synopsis:
“Gaviota Island” is a psychological thriller exploring the twisted love between a nature girl and a hunter.
The story delivers a message about the cruelty of shooting wild animals. It delves into the tangled complexities of romance, secrecy, and moral ambiguity.
Laura Whitley is 22 years old. She meets Bret Belcher at the University of Texas – an unexpected pairing of a bird enthusiast and a passionate hunter.
Laura admires Bret’s confidence, ambition, and charm. But she grapples with his unwavering passion for guns and hunting.
As university graduation looms, Laura’s distress intensifies because she has no plans for what she’ll do when she finishes. The Belchers will dispatch Bret to Panama to oversee the family’s property business there. This could be Laura’s pivotal moment to break up with him. But against her parents’ advice, she follows him to Panama in hopes of remaking their lives together.
In Panama, Laura befriends a young biologist who discovers a rare population of monkeys on Gaviota, an uninhabited island meant for Bret’s real estate venture. The discovery is a threat to Bret’s plans,
Bret’s violent solution to the monkey problem and his betrayal with another woman push Laura to the edge. Horrified and desperate, Laura takes drastic measures.
Experience Laura’s transformation from an innocent bird watcher to a woman ensnared in a web of deceit and survival.
Follow a series of events that spiral into a dark, dangerous climax.
Discover the gripping tale that blurs the lines between right and wrong, keeping you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
Favorite Lines:
“I think that psychologists must have theories on all of this. Are we talking about misogynistic men fleeing into the wilds to escape women? Does shooting animals make a man feel manly? Do hunters measure their penis sizes?”
“Who does the most good for humanity, property developers or wildlife defenders? In a crowded and overheating world, people had to choose. Laura cast her lot with Penny.”
“Penny resisted the cliché of men from Mars and women from Venus. That wasn’t going to help.”
My Opinion:
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.
This story follows Laura Whitley, an enthusiastic bird watcher who has fallen in love with Bret Belcher, an intense hunter. Despite disagreeing with Bret’s love for guns and animal hunting, Laura follows Bret to Panama when he travels to oversee his family’s business there in an attempt to stay together and rekindle their love for one another. Laura quickly finds herself in a horrible situation that seems to escalate by the day and the man she had been trying to convince herself she could make a life with is the villain in this story.
I have to say that I think this book is a first for me in terms of being heavily focused on anti-hunting and anti-poaching themes and messaging. Klarmann clearly writes from a personal and passionate place on this topic and I was impressed on how this passion was conveyed throughout this story. I thought that Klarmann had a relaxing and enjoyable writing voice that the story only benefited from and I actually appreciated that it was a bit more informal compared to some other writing styles I have read.
While I do appreciate being spared on some of the more graphic details, there were still many sad and distressing scenes that really drove home the realities of hunting; which was the point. I did find myself with tears in my eyes over several of the scenes but would still recommend this book to wipe away any disillusions about what hunting can entail.
Summary:
Overall, I was not sure what to expect going into this book but I was strangely surprised that I enjoyed it and came out more educated on the topics it covered than I was going into it. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the realities of the injustices that animals face at the hands of mankind. While a work of fiction, this book paints a very real picture of today’s world and what takes place to the animals that are hunted in it.
Check out Gaviota Island: Birds, Monkeys, and Twisted Love here!
