Usually, when I stumble across a killer cryptid novel, it's typically the North American Sasquatch, so when I crossed paths with Douglas Corleone's The Yeti, I automatically added it to my TBR.
The Yeti tells the story of Dr. Zack Hitchens, an evolutionary biology professor from Rhode Island. He is planning a sabbatical so he and his wife can scale Mount Everest. Zack, by nature, isn't an adventurer; his wife was the thrill-seeker. Scuba diving, spelunking, paragliding, she did it all. Mountaineering was the one adventure he had agreed to share with her. They climbed all the local mountains -- Estes Park, The White Mountains, and Mount Rainier. Now, she wanted Everest. When his wife is killed in an automobile accident, he's all set to scrap his plans. A friend, after her funeral, kind of guilts him into going. Not necessarily to climb, but to use it as sort of a retreat. Hire someone to take her ashes and release them at the peak. Reluctantly, he agrees, but once he arrives, finding somebody to take the ashes up becomes problematic, and the leader of the expedition encourages him to take them up himself. Not necesssarily all the way. Just get to Base Camp, and he'll see to it that somebody completes the journey, but once there, he decides to push on.
Zack isn't alone on this expedition; there's a complete cast of characters, some of whom are not who they claim to be.
Unlike many of the killer cryptid novels, Corleone has created more than just a creature feature novel. It's a novel about grief, about honoring a loved one's memory, and persevering through hardships to see that person's goal accomplished, even when they can no longer do it for themselves. Corleone has also populated his world with some wonderful characters, and for the most part, they're all likable, even the ones who have lied about who they are.
The first half of the book is like the adventure itself, kind of slow-moving, but once they start the climb, the pace picks up. The book, for the most part, is enjoyable, although I would have preferred more of a Yeti presence throughout, and while the ending is satisfactory, I wasn't particularly a fan of it, but I understand why the author made the choices he did. If you're looking for a killer cryptid novel that has more substance than the usual publications, this is definitely one to check out. Highly recommended. 4/5 stars.
