Don't Cry Wolf

by Clair M. Poulson

An officer never knows what he might face when he first arrives at an accident. When Deputy Sergeant Matthew Prescott gets the call directing him to a serious crash on U.S. 191, he drives as fast as he dares. As he approaches the twisted, mangled remains of the vehicle, he doubts there could be any survivors in that wreckage. Somebody's life would be ruined tonight.

He just never thought it would be his.

Overwhelmed by the memory of losing part of his family that night, Matthew decides to take the sheriff 's offer to become a detective instead of a patrol supervisor. Maybe not being on-site at car accidents would dull his pain.

A year later, wolves are starting to drift from neighboring Yellowstone Park to Montana ranches and are preying on calves, and a group of activists is passionate about saving the wolves from getting shot by ranchers. But that passion turns to violence with the murder of a rancher who shoots a wolf in order to protect his livestock. Now it's up to Matthew to find out exactly who is behind the escalating violence.

Genres: Lds Fiction, Mystery, Lds, Romance, Fiction, Book Club, Suspense

273 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2008

About the author

Clair M. Poulson was born and raised in Duchesne, Utah. His father was a rancher and farmer, his mother a librarian. Clair has always been an avid reader, having found his love for books as a very young boy.

He has served for forty years in the criminal justice system. Twenty years were spent in law enforcement, ending his police career with eight years as the Duchesne County Sheriff. For the past twenty years Clair has worked as a justice court judge for Duchesne County. Clair is also a veteran of the US Army where he was a military policeman. He has served on various boards and councils during his professional career, including the Justice Court Board of Judges, Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Utah Judicial Council, Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, an FBI advisory board and others.

In addition to his criminal justice work, Clair has farmed and ranched all of his life. He has raised many kinds of animals, but his greatest interest is horses.

Clair has served in many capacities in the LDS church, including fulltime missionary (California Mission) bishop, counselor to bishop, young men president, high councilor, stake mission president, scoutmaster, High Priest group leader, etc. He currently serves as a Sunday School teacher.

Clair is married to Ruth, and together, they have five children, all of whom are married: Alan (Vicena) Poulson, Kelly Ann (Wade) Hatch, Amanda (Ben) Semadeni, Wade (Brooke) Poulson, and Mary (Tyler) Hicken. Between them they have twenty-three children. Clair and Ruth met while both were students at Snow College and were married in the Manti temple.

Clair has always loved telling his children, and later his grandchildren, make-up stories. His vast experience in life and his love of literature has always contributed to both his telling stories to children and his writing of adventure and suspense novels.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
Interesting novel about ranchers in Wyoming who are losing their cattle to wolves from Yellowstone that are wandering from the park and destroying and preying on the cattle.
Animal activists are protesting the ranchers methods of ridding their ranches from the wolves and the clashes between ranchers and activists heightens to an intensely deadly level.

Lots of action and excitement in the book. This was the second book I’ve read from Poulson and I enjoyed it.

[the girl who reads a lot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good suspense/murder mystery novel! It captured my attention right away, and I didn’t figure out whodunnit for a while. I listened to this one while I was working, and it really helped the work days go faster.

[Trustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars
clean
no swearing
fairly obvious who the bad guy is
still fairly suspenseful

[Paul Heaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riviting

It's been a long time since I finished a book on only two days. This is a great read, highly reccomend.

[Jodee Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Good story and plot. Happy ending.

[Vickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read.

[Betty Ann Baer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story has many twists and turns.

[Kevin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This kept me going thru the whole read. I had already knew who had caused the accident at the first.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, another mystery! Started off kinda slow, but towards the middle of the book it got more suspenseful. I will say this though, this book if full of mysteries and I didn't solve a single one on my own. Now, that's could just be because I'm really slow and have trouble thinking outside the box, but I thought Poulson did a pretty good job at concealing the murderers identity. After finishing the book though I could see how certain clues pointed to certain people. I could probably read it again and see some things that I missed the first time around. And let me just say that the cover really adds to the story. In fact, when I wasn't reading it I had to place the cover upside down so I didn't have to stare at the wolfs creepy eyes. Now! Lets move on to what makes or breaks a book. The Romance! At first I thought it was a bit odd and a bit rushed but I think I'm just being picky. I did like the ending believe it or not. It's not a fairy tale ending, but I thought it was appropriate and practical.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book from a great author. I love the way the author writes in enough balance between suspense/ mystery with a hint of romance. officer prescott got the blow of his life when he comes to investigate an accident and finds his wife and daughter dead and his young son missing. He finds his son, mute with fear and it takes the help of a therapist to help him to speak again. This tragedy happens, then wolves start appearing on ranchers land that have been placed there on purpose. Lindsey, a rancher and soon to be important part of the officers life has more to do with the wolves than she at first thinks. Her fathers been shot and now the hunt is on, but who is doing the hunting the wolves or man?

[Landon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Almost a one star... I was refered to it by my brother. It's a mystery involing wolves being taken out of Yellowstone and released on rancher's property. The ranchers shoot the wolves and the raticals who released the wolves shoot the ranchers. At the same time a daugter fights with her older brother for ownership of their family Ranch after their father's murder. I thought it was really predictable, and that the love story that he tried to put in ended up really cheesy, one of those too much too fast things that was hard to believe and felt really fake. I just didnt think very much of the whole thing, the only reason is a two star is because I reserve one star ratings for books that are unbearable, and its not quite that bad.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Clair Poulson books, and have read every one of them. I'm not sure why, but this one disappointed me. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood to read it, or maybe they're just losing their thrill for me. I don't know. This book was totally predictable. Nothing happened that I hadn't seen chapters and chapters away. It was totally cliche, using the same idea that's been worn to rags by authors, the widower with kids who finds his love,etc. eek!! The book overall was okay, but I'm wishing I hadn't spent my money on buying my own copy.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book. It was a really good mystery, even if it was a little bit predictable and had a loose end or two that weren't tied up to my satisfaction. But overall it keep me reading into the wee hours of the morning to see what would happen next and was hard to put down when I finally decided I had to get some sleep despite wanting to find out what was going to happen next. In other words...it pulled me in, kept me riveted, and left me basically satisfied with having spent the time to read it.

[Dlora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've quite liked Clair Poulson's books before, but this one wasn't so good, or maybe I'm just moving away from these more light-weight LDS novels. The story revolves around the battle between the ranchers' and the environmentalists' concerns about introducing wolves into Yellowstone Park, especially when the wolves begin to wander onto ranch lands and kill livestock. Some good suspense and action scenes but the main characters weren't quite realistic enough, the writing was only so-so, and the plot was predictable.

[Darla · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Genre:LDS Fiction/suspense/mystery) 2 1/2 to 3 stars. The main idea behind the story (environmentalist illegally transplanting wolves from Yellowstone into areas used by ranchers) was interesting, but I never really got into the story too deeply because the dialogue between the characters never engaged me. The personalities of the characters seemed a little 2 dimensional, but it was a fair read and if you really like Clair Poulson, then you shouldn't be disappointed. I have read a couple of his books and this seems par for the course.

[Janet Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it well enough to finish it, though had to finally decide, I've got to listen while I sew or clean, as I've had no time this summer to read. It's nice to have a good story without running into offensive language and situations in the book. The only complaint was that the villian was so bad, he had no redeeming qualities. I always hope for at least some glimmer of humanity in people. The setting was in the area I grew up in, and visited a lot: Montana, Idaho, Wyo and plot focused onthe wolf problem for ranchers in those states.

[Rachael Dorronsoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Prescott is called to the scene of an accident, when he sees that it is his own family who have had the accident, he is a broken man. He changes his life and becomes a Detective and when there is a murder on a neighboring ranch it is his job to find out who killed his friend and Rancher. Lindsay Flemming is the daughter of the dead rancher and when things start going bad for her Matthew Prescott is there to help. This story is a fast paced, intriguing read with a great plot and a good mystery. This book is a clean read.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clair Poulson is usually one of the people I like the most for LDS fiction, but this was below his other books. I thought Dwight was a caricature and never really find him a believable character, nor did I ever understand his motives. The way some of the action took place seemed dropped into the story too, especially how it jumps from Matt's tragedy to the main plot of the story. It was all right, but I'd go back and read some of his others before this.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! It's a good, quick read by an LDS author.
A group of people who claim to be wolf activists are trapping wolves in Yellowstone Park and bringing them to ranches in Montana. The wolves begin attacking the cattle and the ranchers are forced to kill the wolves. Why would the "activists" trap the wolves, bring them to the Montana ranches and train them to hunt and kill the cattle? You'll have to read to find out!

[Dianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to Love Clair Poulson's books, but I think his Samuel series are some of his best- great stories, but they come across kind of...stilted? I don't know, I really enjoy them, but I just can't help but laugh at times at the dialogue and thought processes the characters have...kinda cheesy. Good book, not my favorite of his, I don't know if he's trying to push them out faster now or what, but I like his older books better.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This starts out with a terrible title. How about "Crying Wolf", or "To Cry Wolf"? And then you get to throw in the usual LDS writer assumes the readser is stupid writing. I mean, really, we have to be told everything? Add to that, the super fast way people simply fall in love for eternity, and you have the plan for a great LDS fiction novel. But I am the one who checks them out, so it is plainly my fault.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book by Clair Poulson I have read. Well actually I listened to it. I found it to be very entertaining. It was predictable. Not very far into it I guessed how it would end and yet I totally enjoyed it. Usually I clean house or exercise while I'm listening to books but last night I realized I'd been sitting just listening for a half hour and had done nothing but enjoy it.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Adventure, romance, and detective story all rolled into one. The wolf from Yellowstore park are moving out of the park and moving into ranch land. When a rancher is murdered Detective Sergeant Matthew Prescott is put on the case. A case that will be filled with unmatchable suspense and unlikely romance.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. Usually, when I listen to audio books I just listen to them on my way to and from work but I couldn't stop with this one! I carried a cd player around with me and listened to it non-stop for 2 days whenever I could. Simple plot but so good. Maybe just having the story placed near Yellowstone made it more likable to me, I don't know, but it was fantastic!

[Sara Bowersox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really gripped by this book! maybe it is my deep rooted love for the valley we live in and have traveled to. My family ranched in Montana while I was growing up, and this struck a cord with me there. I really related to what was going on with the ranchers and was gripped by the added suspense. It went quickly for me once I got into it. I could not put it down!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mystery. Wolves drifting from Yellowstone Park to neighboring ranches pits ranchers trying to protect their herds and living against environmentalists trying to protect the wolves. However, someone is manipulating the situation for their own benefit.

[Caryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another mystery from my Uncle Clair. His novels are LDS based without being preachy so that anyone would appreciate them. I normally can predict most plot lines in books I read, but this one had me guessing until the end.

[Rorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Clair Poulson's books. They are easy reads, with some suspense, who-done-it, clean romance, etc thrown in. The dialog between characters didn't flow very smoothly for me in this one, but the story was good.

[Ronda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first time I have read a book written by Clair Poulson.
I enjoyed it. I found it predictable, but enjoyed reading the story none the less. You may find me reading another Clair Poulson book in the future.

[Annemarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of his books. It started out kinda slow and was pretty predictable what was going to happen in the end, which is not usually how his books are. Still it was a good mystery and had enough action and suspense in it to keep my attention.