The Shadows of Owls

Kate DeShazer is a marine biologist whose research threatens the construction of an oil pipeline in Alaska's Chukchi Sea. A group of extremists, hired by an international petroleum conglomerate, intimidate her, steal her records, and leave her fighting for her life. Her husband Jack and son Travis are pulled into a web of international intrigue and violence as they try to save her.

With vivid prose, Keeble brings to life the winter landscapes of northern Idaho and southern British Columbia and reveals the interconnectedness of the people within it--from scientists to loggers to white supremacists--as each must answer to the demands of corporate power.

John Keeble is professor emeritus of creative writing at Eastern Washington University. He is the author of four novels, including Yellowfish and Broken Ground, both recently reissued; a collection of short stories; and a work of nonfiction, Out of the Channel: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound.

"John Keeble has written a novel that will make your heart and mind race. The Shadows of Owls pulses with masterfully written suspense and sparks questions--questions about the alliances of sorrow and evil, sanctity and madness, love and regret, and especially about the cold, implacable contest between the amoral violence of corporations and the power of stormy seas and snow-drifted land." -Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Holdfast and Wild Comfort

"The Shadows of Owls is a continually vivid and exactingly researched story about the petro-chemical disasters that are haunting our writhing world. Spectacular, compelling and brilliantly articulated. The strongest eco-novel in memory. A masterwork." -William Kittredge, author of Hole in the Sky

"John Keeble is a hell of a descriptive writer, and combining his brilliant talent and love of landscape with an eco-thriller plot is a great idea. The Shadows of Owls is an unusual and ambitious novel with great skill at depicting the outer life of the Northwest and the inner life of its characters." -William Dietrich, author of The Barbed Crown and Final Forest

"The Shadows of Owls evokes Edward Abbey's pro-environmental leanings and Ken Kesey's lyricism,. With Keeble's familiarity of fisheries, biology, computer technology, logging, and the workings of sea-going vessels, in places it reads like something from Tom Clancy." -James Aho, professor emeritus of Sociology, Idaho State University

John Keeble is professor emeritus of creative writing at Eastern Washington University. He is the author of four novels, including Yellowfish and Broken Ground, both recently reissued; a collection of short stories; and a work of nonfiction, Out of the Channel: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound.