The Last Ranger

A Novel

By: Peter Heller

Narrated by: Mark Deakins

The best-selling author of The River returns with a vibrant, lyrical novel about an enforcement ranger in Yellowstone National Park who likes wolves better than most people. When a clandestine range war threatens his closest friend, he must shake off his own losses and act swiftly to discover the truth and stay alive.

“A good story that’s intertwined like leaves afloat in a river with the current of Heller’s descriptive powers… Filled with Heller’s lush writing… Powerful.” –Denver Post

Officer Ren Hopper is an enforcement ranger with the National Park Service, tasked with duties both mundane and thrilling: Breaking up fights at campgrounds, saving clueless tourists from moose attacks, and attempting to broker an uneasy peace between the wealthy vacationers who tromp through the park with cameras, and the residents of hardscrabble Cooke City who want to carve out a meaningful living.

When Ren, hiking through the backcountry on his day off, encounters a tall man with a dog and a gun chasing a small black bear up a hill, his hackles are raised. But what begins as an investigation into the background of a local poacher soon opens into something far murkier: A shattered windshield, a series of red ribbons tied to traps, the discovery of a frightening conspiracy, and a story of heroism gone awry.

Populated by a cast of extraordinary characters—famous scientists, tattooed bartenders, wildlife guides in slick Airstreams—and bursting with unexpected humor and grace, Peter Heller masterfully unveils a portrait of the American west where our very human impulses—for greed, love, family, and community—play out amidst the stunning beauty of the natural world.

©2023 Peter Heller (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Heller writes in lean, descriptive, contemplative prose that often reflects a spirit of solitude…Ren, like his literary creator, is a philosopher at heart; you get the feeling he’d do just fine hanging with Thoreau at Walden Pond…The thrills of The Last Ranger...should resonate with any thoughtful reader who considers the human relationship to the world that was here before we arrived, and, hopefully, will be here after we shuffle off this mortal coil.” —Chris Vognar, The Boston Globe

"The opening pages of...The Last Ranger will make you want to become a better human. Heller’s style...is Hemingway with the machismo scoured out of it. He can linger romantically on Yellowstone’s atmosphere....But his observations and dialogue are typically as clipped as Papa’s. Still, his tension within the natural setting is more psychologically nuanced." —Mark Athitakis, The Los Angeles Times

“Heller's best books…have a lickety-split pace and archetypal characters whose behavior makes sense to us partly because he keeps them mysterious, forcing us to fill in their motivations....Throughout the novel there's a sense that good and evil aren't as easy to separate as we'd like to believe. Maybe Heller's point is that the ‘good guys’ are the mountains and the streams and the ‘bad guys’ are all the people who think those things were put here for us.” —Chris Hewitt, Minneapolis StarTribune

Another great Peter Heller book

Enjoyed it. If you like his other books such as The River, The Guide, The Painter, or The Dog Stars you will probably like this one as well.

Enjoyed this one

Glad to see another story from this author.
The plot is subtle, and the writing is poetic
The narrator was awesome. I definitely can't wait for more stories from this author.

Serious Hiaasen vibes....

Felt like a Carl Hiaasen novel, set in Yellowstone instead of the everglades. And not as funny. Seriously, I kept expecting the former governor of Florida er....Montana to show up! Wolf obsessed, misanthropic girlfriend, fucked up violent antagonists AND protagonists, heavy handed environmental advocacy....it had it all! I fell in love with Peter Heller's prose reading The Dog Stars but his wounded alpha male trope is starting to wear thin. Overall I would give this book a MEH....

Beautiful and engaging

A terrific descriptive novel, sometimes bordering on poetry. Great character development, and a seamless connection between the characters and their natural setting.

Right at home in the mountains and wilds of the great Yellowstone park

From the start of The Last Ranger you can feel the chill of mountain air blowing through the aspens, smell the aroma of the pines and hear the haunting cry of a wolf. It’s not easy writing in the place of such a well storied, iconic place as Yellowstone with all its complexities and drama but Heller weaves all these intricacies into a great story. It doesn’t pale in the grandeur of the place but rather the story itself sits at home in the place.

hope there's a sequel

If you like Box or Krueger, you will like this main character, and the rugged outdoors landscape.

Great story

This was a great book. In addition to a good story and cast of characters, the author highlights an appreciation for nature, compexities of tourism in National Parks, and the problems that occur when civilization and nature are at ods. I also hope there is a sequel.

Heller is king of literary wilderness thrillers

Peter Heller is a “go-to” author for me. I love his writing; it’s lyrical at the same time as suspenseful. That’s a tough combination to accomplish. “The Last Ranger” follows the daily movements of Ren Hopper, a Yellowstone National Park Ranger. Heller puts to paper those news shots we Americans get every summer of some tourist trying to pet a Bison, or in the case in the book, have their preschooler feed a baby moose an apple. Heller informs the reader that if that moose or it’s mother would have charged at the little girl, the Park Rangers would be required to put down the moose and her calf. Heller writes, “How many innocent lives have been lost in service to Instagram?”

It's more than the daily job of a Park Ranger, Heller fleshes out his characters, providing complex and richly developed players. Ren is earnest and upstanding. He wants to be an agent of good. The reader learns, through Ren’s internal monologues, that Ren has a troubled past that weighs on him. He has regrets regarding the women he loved: his wife and mother. Another character, Les, appears to be a heartless wolf poacher who had a promising future in football. His career was cut short and it seems like Les’ life is out of control. And there is Hilly, the wolf academic who loves her wolves more than humans.

That is not to say that Heller’s knowledge of Yellowstone Ranger’s inner sanctum isn’t entertainment enough. Through Hilly, we follow the tagged wolves. The reader becomes intimately familiar with the wolves who have demonstrated empathy, or the bears who remain the crowd favorites. Much of the “wildlife” have been tagged and followed via cell-data.

If you love the outdoors, you’ll love Heller’s writing. If you love literature, you’ll love Heller. If you can’t physically get to a National Park this year, read this and you’ll be immersed. I’m a huge fan of Heller’s, even though I don’t fish, and Heller believes fishing is the answer to all the world’s ills.

I listened to the audio, narrated superbly by Mark Deakins.

Both taut mystery and serene pleasures at the edge of the wild

The author knows the Yellowstone region well, and the well drawn characters even better. A rare clean narrative of a small community and a big array of wildlife… pulls you into both the edgy mystery of conflict and the warm pleasure of connections.

Classic Montana Characters- Entertaining and Interesting!

Montanans are fiercely independent, tough, and love the outdoors/ nature. I enjoyed this audiobook from beginning to end with well developed protagonists and antagonists. I’ve been fortunate to have lived and played in that beautiful part of the world. The author paints accurately with an engaging plot line. Solid narrator. Good job!