A few years ago, Carter Renfrow shot a man in Memphis just to watch him die. But instead of being arrested and sent to Folsom Prison, he successfully evaded the police. He became a drifter and lived his life in the margins of society. 

Covid-19 was a big help for him. Wearing a gaiter mask was useful to a criminal who wanted to stay anonymous. And since everyone else was basically stuck at home during the pandemic watching TV all day, it was easy for Carter to move silently from town to town without raising any suspicions. 

That all changed dramatically one night when he was ensnarled in a multi-car pileup while driving through the Boston Mountains of Arkansas. With no way off the mountain and EMS vehicles arriving shortly, Carter knew his life as a free man was about to end.  

The author spends a big chunk of time describing the details of the car crash. In doing so, he brings together four of his five main characters: Carter, along with a young women named Aniyah, a little girl named Stacey and a creep named Jed who thought he was Kraven the Hunter. 

The fifth member of the cast came along shortly after the crash—a 15-foot-tall cryptid known colloquially as the Ozark Howler. It was a bear-cat-dog bipedal beast that moved with the “fluidity of water separating from the shadows of the forest like a building storm.” It was an apex killing machine not of this time or world, explained Jed. “It was magnificent.”

The highway crackup occurred along the Borderland Pass, a desolate section of the Ozarks featuring nothing but trees, rolling mountains and the animals who dared call the place home. According to Native legends, the area was prime Howler territory. Ancient Caddo and Quapaw tribes had unsuccessfully tangled with the wendigo-like monster—as did Mayans, Spanish conquistadors and white settlers. In time, the Borderland Pass was simply abandoned and became a no man’s land. 

But now it was time for the Howler to come out of hiding. The crash site provided a delicious all-you-can-eat buffet for a beast that was probably tired of munching on muskrats all day. The sounds of bone gnashing and gurgled laughing filled the air. 

Carter, Jed, Aniyah and Stacey flee into the nearby woods hotly pursued by the hungry Howler. This is when Tragic (the latest effort from author Edward J. McFadden III) turns into a 72-hour slow motion tragedy. Spoiler alert: there’s more than one monster roaming the Ozark Mountains. 

Indeed, McFadden’s novel is a slow ride that takes time to build up speed. The reader spends an awfully long time amidst the highway rubble. Maybe too long, I don’t know. But trust me, the Howler is a nasty creature—you’ll be glad you stuck around for the crazy ending.

And speaking of endings, this one has a prescient one. After the happy (unhappy) finale, a family of Howlers huddles together by the side of the Borderland Pass. They sit in silence, birds flitting around them, the hum of the highway carrying through the forest. “They waited,” wrote McFadden with a hint of foreboding. 

[ Tragic / By Edward J. McFadden III / First Printing: June 2023 / ISBN: 9781922861731 ]