Toehold

The Alaskan wilderness provides a formidable backdrop for Foreman's detail-rich though meandering first novel. In Toehold, with a population of 200, an Arctic “bush village,” a collection of surly characters have their quirks, but this is no quaint Northern Exposure hamlet. Subsisting on a diet of moose, caribou and the beer down at Sweet-ass Sue's Pingo Palace, the town's citizens see simply surviving the winter as a source of pride. Like many residents, fiery Mary Ellen “Mel” Madden, originally from Mudsuck, W.Va., came to Toehold with “just no place left to go.” But thanks to Cody Rosewater, the town's taxidermist and “go-to” guy, Mel soon learns how to track, hunt and trap. She puts her new skills to work by hanging out her hunting guide shingle. But her first client, a smarmy Hollywood producer, may prove to be more dangerous than the golden grizzly they set out after. Plenty of shots get fired, and somewhere in the harsh landscape love starts to bloom. While the depiction of life in the Alaskan bush can be striking, the romance is less than stirring, and some sluggish prose and big chunks of character backstory slow things down. (Oct.)