The Tiger

A True Story of Vengeance and Survival

By: John Vaillant

Narrated by: John Vaillant

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

It’s December 1997, and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren’t random: The tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta. Injured, starving, and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again.

As he re-creates these extraordinary events, John Vaillant gives us an unforgettable portrait of this spectacularly beautiful and mysterious region. We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshipped and lived alongside tigers, even sharing their kills with them. We witness the arrival of Russian settlers in the 19th and early 20th centuries, soldiers and hunters who greatly diminished the tiger populations. And we come to know their descendants, who, crushed by poverty, have turned to poaching and further upset the natural balance of the region.

This ancient, tenuous relationship between man and predator is at the very heart of this remarkable book. Throughout we encounter surprising theories of how humans and tigers may have evolved to coexist, how we may have developed as scavengers rather than hunters, and how early Homo sapiens may have fit seamlessly into the tiger’s ecosystem. Above all, we come to understand the endangered Siberian tiger, a highly intelligent super-predator that can grow to ten feet long, weigh more than six hundred pounds, and range daily over vast territories of forest and mountain.

Beautifully written and deeply informative, The Tiger circles around three main characters: Vladimir Markov, a poacher killed by the tiger; Yuri Trush, the lead tracker; and the tiger himself. It is an absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga.

©2010 John Vaillant (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

2011, The Orion Book Award, Short-listed

“This book must be read by everybody who is interested in the conservation of wildlife. It takes you to the Russian wilderness to meet face-to-face with the Siberian tiger.” (Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human)

“This book is magnificent, surely the best chronicle ever published of the wild Amur tigers in Russia’s Far East. In it are chilling accounts of human encounters with tigers—but these encounters, however fearsome, convincingly demonstrate the role that these enormous cats continue to play in the natural world. Equally compelling are the people of Primorye, those who of necessity must hunt the tigers, and those who would preserve them. To call this book a page-turner is an understatement. It’s riveting.” (Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs, The Hidden Life of Deer, The Old Way, and Tribe of Tiger)

Facts blended with spirituality in the far east

This was a wonderful book read by a spectacular narrator. An exquisite blend of well researched facts centered around a traumatic yet riveting experience in the frozen remote wilderness of far eastern Russia.

Must read

Unbelievable book, beautifully read and beautifully constructed. An amazing story of the human connection to natural world. I would recommend this to anyone.

Fascinating - I devoured this book

Beautifully written, and captivating from cover to cover. The story and level of detail are both incredible. Must read, and who doesn’t love a true story, and especially one about a tiger?!?

Outstanding

A few years ago I read the paperback version of this book in 2 days. Since then I've read it a few times and now I've listened to it. I love this book in any format. An amazing mix of biology, sociology, psychology, history, and gripping action.

This audible version is simply perfect. Often when authors read their own work, you feel that while they know their material best, it wouldve been better left to a professional voice. In the case of The Tiger by John Valliant, it seems like it can ONLY be read by him.

As the physical book stands as one of my favorite pieces of non fiction this audible version does as well.

Meaty story of meat meeting a meat-eater

This is a good book. It is full of illustrative information about a place and people I previously knew little to nothing about, and a tiger. You can’t go wrong with a tiger.

I loved all the information about the tiger. I loved the intelligence of his behavior, and the impression of power and size the author brings to life. I even love the idea of the tiger eating his poacher, though only because despite everything else, tigers are the real underdogs in this global fight

I also appreciated the sympathy and sensitivity with which the author approaches the people of this story— even the poachers and the drunks. They felt real, and I sympathized with their lack of choices and felt that their perspective of their changing corner of the earth was a meaningful addition to the overall picture of what is happening to the taiga, and the tigers, and villages and ecosystems and lives and ways of life everywhere.

As quality non-fiction books so often do, this book made me sad. But it made me sad in the way watching a coastline fall to global warming makes me sad— the sadness that accompanies awareness of important things.

I didn’t know this place before, or these people, and I only barely knew their tigers, but I know them all a little better now, and I am moved

Wow!!!! Fantastic!!

If you have an interest in tigers and Russia (which I do), you will love this book (which I did). It is a fascinating, thorough, non-fiction account of this story as well as related tangential ones that enhance the understanding of this one. I really enjoyed the author's narration as well. A great listen!

To realize the memory of the tiger

I enjoyed the narrator’s voice. I enjoyed learning something about tigers which I had no previous education about.

Very well written and a must for Big Cat fans

I'll begin with the author's reading skills: Pretty damn good. Above average voice and tone...While true that reading your own book at the Audible.com level is generally a poor idea....this proves to be an exception.

Since it's very well written and tells a story that I found fascinating...I have to give four stars...more like 4.3...Some might not like the multiple digressions into Russian history, animal psychology, and lots of other words ending with "ology" but the digressions are the book...otherwise, it's a short magazine article about events that occurred on the border area between Russian and China where the biggest of the big cats dwell...in dwindling numbers...supported by some dedicated Russian "inspectors" and wildlife foundations....endangered by poachers seeking to sell tiger parts to morons in China and elsewhere that revere tiger penises and bones as "medicine"...The narrative revolves around the killings by a tiger in 1996 that terrorized the small region...the book is a travel book...history book...adventure book...nature book...and a must read for big cat fans.

Interesting topic and well read

This book is a little like Cod, or Krakatoa, in that it centers on a single event or subject but spends most (or most) of its time on topic's periphery. I tend to enjoy books written this way. The Tiger is not equal to Cod or Krakatoa (I would rate both five starts) but is still informative and enjoyable.


The reader (author) does a great job. I came away feeling confident in my pronunciation of Vladivostok.

Extraordinary story

The author wraps the main story in a helix-like net of fascinating facts about animals, geography, politics and so much more. His writing is dazzling and the narration excellent.