Midnight Sun

The Story

Elwood Reid's ferocious story of two tough-talking drifters forced to confront their vulnerability in the Alaskan wilderness cements his reputation as the bard of the working man. Looking for thrills and some easy money, two itinerant construction workers, Jack and Burke, agree to help a desperate father rescue his daughter from a strange millennial cult for a fee of ten thousand dollars.  Their quest takes them into the most dangerous territory on the continent--the dark woods of Alaska.  Woefully unprepared for the deadly harshness of the land, and dreadfully uninformed as to the pervasiveness of the cult's hold on its members, they quickly descend into a violent struggle for their lives. Jack and Burke swiftly and excruciatingly learn that their rescue-the-girl mission is anything but a walk in the woods for a large chunk of money.  Face to face with the disfigured cult leader, they discover that the stakes are much higher, involving a deadly grizzly bear and large amounts of newly mined gold.  Jack, initially less confident than the hard-ass Burke, finds himself assuming control of the expedition as they move deeper and deeper into the bush and every decision becomes a question of life or death. A relentless yet complex tale,Midnight Sunexplores how men react to the most extreme conditions and the basest of human behavior--the choices they make when the rules of civilization no longer apply and what, in a world steeped in darkness and isolation, they discover about themselves and one another. Reviews for his previous books trumpeted Reid's extraordinary ability to portray the lives of working-class men.  In this new novel, Reid takes on a much larger canvas and demonstrates the full extent of his artistic powers.