Product Description

Wild Man is a story of love and belief, courage and friendship, and the struggle to find one's place amongst the chaos of the modern world.

Jason Everton, the son of the Vice President, crashes his car into a 40-foot Douglas fir. Trapped inside, he sees a mysterious dark blob of hair in the middle of the road. He doesn't believe in Bigfoot, but what else could it be? Enlisting the help of a tabloid journalist and two Sasquatch experts, Jason searches for the truth in the forest against his father's wishes.

Simultaneously, Matthew Walker zig-zags his way across the country after quitting his nine-to-five job in St. Petersburg, Florida. He believes there has to be more to life than working in a cubicle and following orders. Not knowing where he's going or what he's going to do, he finds himself in southwest Washington. Turning off the main road to look for a restaurant, he meets an old friend of the family in the forest, who in turn introduces him to the world of his dreams.

During his time in the woods, Matt becomes the apprentice of a reclusive, ex-presidential speechwriter, and discovers who he is and the difference one man can make in the world.

Along the way, Matt's story intertwines with Jason's, and the two men learn about life through a colorful cast of characters, including a famous artist pretending to be dead, a supermodel, a mysterious stranger believed to be DB Cooper, and a group of fun-loving hikers who get together once a year to reminisce about the good old days.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2896211 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-25
• Released on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 334 pages

About the Author
Gabriel Whitney graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1998. Wild Man is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

Hmmmm
I purchased this book because it was referenced for bigfoot fiction. While the story teases at it, it never happens. Instead we get a random group of characters that you could care less about that babble throughout the book. We have no less than four people who have 'died' but are just hiding out in the woods letting the world think they're dead. We get the vice-presdent's son toting along a tabloid reporter and two bigfoot researchers. We get a group of mamby-pamby friends that get together yearly for a reunion at some cabins out in nowhere-land, yet it's awful busy. The recluses aren't reclusive and pretty much from page one, you get the distinct impression that this is nothing more than the author expressing his personal opinions about anything and everything from the Iraqi war, religion, politics, to vegetarianism, timber industry, and many others. It was painfully boring for me. The book made no sense despite trying to be a veiled attempt at saying the 'while you may think you are one type of person, you'll find out you're truly not anything close to that.' There are inconsistancies throughout the story, first one being on page 6 in which just how the wrecked car lands is in dispute from the author's descriptions.
I guess there's a reason some books are self published.

In the spirit of Edward Abbey
Gabriel Whitney's first novel, Wild Man, is eloquently written, smart, and rich with beautiful and poetic metaphors. Set in the Pacific Northwest, Wild Man weaves together the adventures of an eclectic group of strangers whose respective pasts, as it turns out, aren't as unconnected as it seems, and by the end of the novel, they all share the same common goal - to live life to the fullest, and to never forget that each day is magical. Wild Man leaves you wanting to believe: to believe in the unknown; to believe in mystery; to believe in love; to believe in redemption; to believe in the change that you, as an individual, can bring about; and most especially, to believe in yourself! With each page turned comes elegant prose that begs - and in a sense, challenges - the reader to live vibrantly and altruistically. Throughout the novel Gabriel Whitney smartly reminds the reader that we live in a socially, politically, and environmentally complex world where most often the good of the Earth and its inhabitants (all of them!) are ignored in favor of capitalism and corporate America. Wild Man left me endlessly surprised, highly motivated, and satisfied that there are writers out there who are not afraid to take on the establishment. It left me wanting to smell wet Earth, to hug my kids, to kiss my wife, to dip my toes in a mountain stream, to believe in the monster under my bed. Gabriel Whitney and Wild Man have undoubtedly left Edward Abbey - somewhere and someplace - smiling proudly...

Great Book
Wild Man is a fearless novel and an environmental awakening. Set in the Pacific Northwest it has everything a book should have: Love, Comedy, Drama, Adventure, and Ideas that make you think about important political and social issues. Read this book and then change the world. It almost seems possible.