Louis Bayard's Roosevelt's Beast blends historical fiction with horror in a suspenseful imagining of an American president and his son facing down a nightmare in the dense jungles of Brazil.
In 1914, Kermit Roosevelt joins his father, Theodore, on an Amazonian expedition. Although the former president is known for his adventures in the wilds, his increasing age causes Edith Roosevelt to insist their second son accompany him, steamrolling over Kermit's protests that the trip could threaten his scheduled wedding to his gentle fiancée, Belle. The journey goes poorly from the beginning, and only Kermit's repeated mantra "I'm to be married in June" keeps him sane and moving forward through an endless slog studded by a death he inadvertently causes and his father's battle with malaria. When a lack of food leads Theodore and Kermit to hunt spider monkeys too far from camp, father and son are kidnapped by an Amazon tribe and expected to save their captors from an elusive beast that disembowels its victims, animal and human alike. Aided by a longtime captive named Luz and her son, Thiego, the Roosevelts stalk and slay the Beast, but Kermit finds himself unable to join wholeheartedly in the tribe's celebration. A sixth sense tells him that the animal they killed was a red herring, that the Beast still lives and now inhabits one of his companions.
Bayard (The School of Night) reimagines the real-life Roosevelt expedition--as recounted in Candace Millard's The River of Doubt--in a tense and brooding manner that never fails to deliver chills and peril in a claustrophobic jungle atmosphere. Although the story is told from Kermit's point of view, the older Roosevelt's indomitable personality often steals the show, underscoring Kermit's feeling of living under his father's shadow. Bayard's ability to capture the delicate relationship between a giant of a man and the son who struggles to come into his own brings an unexpectedly touching aspect to an often brutal story, and Kermit's longing for both the ethereal Belle and her fiercer counterpart Luz reflect the human yearning for both civilization and wilderness.
Scenes of horror and ghostly visitations will leave readers to ponder whether Kermit has a connection to the spirit world or suffers delusions, but the results are equally gruesome either way. This journey into the heart of darkness strikes enough notes that a variety of readers will find an element to tempt them, whether it's the terrifying unknown or the simple desires of the human heart. --Jaclyn Fulwood
Shelf Talker: Kermit Roosevelt and his famous father, Theodore, struggle to outwit a mysterious beast during an ill-fated Amazon expedition.