Published by Grand Central Publishing on April 28, 2026
I’m always happy to find a thriller that doesn’t depend on tough guys saving the world by clobbering bad guys. It’s not that I don’t enjoy tough guy heroics, but is that the only way to write a thriller? Travis Mulhauser proves that crime stories can be exciting without introducing protagonists whose fists or guns dominate the narrative.
Fair Chase takes place in the fictional Cutler County, Michigan. A resort economy sustains the county residents, some of whom claim to have seen a gray wolf. Local businessmen and government officials insist that they saw a large coyote.
Residents worry that a wolf will eat their pets or scare away vacationers. Some are panicking because they fear a wolf that settles into the local environment will attract more wolves. Of greater concern to resort owners is the risk that resort construction will be halted by environmental studies if endangered wolves suddenly appear.
A few rowdy residents vow to take up arms and illegally hunt the wolf. They are the typical tough-talking blowhards who could stand ten feet from a wolf in the woods and never spot it. A shady guy named Davenport, however, hires Darnette Lewis to kill the wolf. Darnette is a young man fresh out of prison who needs cash. He has few skills beyond the ability to track and kill animals. Davenport promises to give Darnette a healthy payment, assuming he can dispose of the wolf’s body before anyone can prove that a wolf has entered the county.
The Sawbrook family owns forested land between the Crow River and Lake Michigan. Lucy Sawbrook is part of that family. She’s also a game warden who understands the importance of protecting the wolf. She knows that if wolves take up residence in the county, locals will rarely see them and will eventually learn to coexist, just as they live with bears and bobcats. Lucy understands that people freak out when their fears are stoked, but know they will eventually “get bored and need something new to worry over when this doesn’t pan out to be the end of the world.”
This branch of the Sawbrook family — consisting of Lucy, her sister Jewell, her brother Buckner and his wife Sky — is less villainous than the family’s reputation would suggest. When a young man named Delos Harris shows up claiming to be a Sawbrook, they quickly recognize him as one of their own.
Delos served some time in a juvenile prison and was most recently living with a foster family, but when his foster father threatened to hunt for the wolf, Delos stole the man’s rifle and fled. Delos feels a kinship with the wolf and wants to protect it. His need to protect the wolf is one reason the Sawbrooks accept him as one of their own.
The story turns into the chase that the title implies — Darnette, Delos, and the Sawbrooks all chase the wolf, with its fate to be decided by whichever person reaches it first. Fair Chase is also the story of a family sticking together to protect the things they value — their land, their independence, and a wolf. Perhaps the wolf symbolizes the Sawbrook family. The Sawbrooks deliberately live apart from human society and, like the wolf, are seen as a threat by many members of the larger community.
Buckner makes the interesting point that society’s view of wolves is dictated by emotion rather than reason. Nobody cares if a wolf kills a barn cat, “but kill one of Mrs. Jennings’s cats and it’d be a five-alarm fire. It’s just like with humans. Certain kinds you can get away with doing whatever you want to them, other kinds you can’t so much as look at them sideways.” Delos is the kind of kid society might throw away, the kind who can be victimized while people with power turn their heads. He’s a sympathetic character because he has greater respect for wolves than he has for selfish landowners who believe their profits are more important than an endangered species.
The story moves forcefully to a poweful conclusion. Travis Mulhauser’s occasional forays into philosophy give the novel a bit of intellectual heft, but the book is a standout because of its authentic characters. Their fidelity to family and to nature imbues them with a kind of honor. The real predators in the story are not wolves but greedy resort owners.The Sawbrooks and Delos earn the reader’s respect by bending the law to protect a wolf, a more noble purpose for bending the law than protecting profits.
RECOMMENDED