Joe Pickett’s future son-in-law just got eaten by a bear. Granted,  like most men Joe was a little wary about idea of son-in-laws in general, but Sheridan was fond of the boy and he’d rather no one get eaten by bears, especially his daughter’s friends.  Unfortunately,  as game warden it gives him a work problem as well as a dad problem: now he has to call in the Predator Attack Team to hunt down this beast with an appetite for human blood, and even as far as grizzlies go, this one is a proper terror, with multiple attacks being reported.  While Joe is stealing into the woods hoping the last thing he hears is not the 30-mph rush of a grizzly coming to make him a Sloppy Joe sandwich, an even worse predator is released into the wild.  Dallas Cates, the sociopathic rodeo star who beat Joe’s daughter and left her for dead,  the man who had planned to torture Joe by killing his family one by one, is again free from prison – and he’s  meaner and even more amoral than ever.  He’s intent on revenge, and plans on using the grizzly attacks to mask his attacks on a list of six people he blames for ruining his and his family’s life – a list that includes both Joe and Nate Romanowski. (Imagine the stupidity of trying to kill Nate Romanowski!)     This novel deftly mixes game warden business with the crime/action thrillers, since Joe’s family has been left in the dark about Dallas being released: they have no idea the savage is on the loose, but Joe’s experience with grizzlies and bears in general has him baffled at the string of bear attacks.  To paraphrase him, there’s either bears working in concert,  a bear with magic powers, or  something else entirely going on. As it happens, it’s something else entirely.  As with other intense personal fights to the death, there is blood paid for the resolution, but it’s effective all the way down to the end.