The Power of the Dog

Phil and George are brothers more than partners and joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley. Phil is the bright one; George the plodder. Phil is tall and angular; George is stocky and silent. Phil is a brilliant chess player a voracious reader an eloquent storyteller; George has no interests no hobbies. Phil is a vicious sadist with a seething contempt for weakness to match his thirst for dominance; George has a gentle loving soul. They sleep in the room they shared as boys and so it has been for forty years. When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch Phil begins an relentless campaign to destroy his brother's new wife. But he reckons without an unlikely protector.

From its visceral first paragraph to its devastating twist of an ending The Power of the Dog will hold you in its grip. With an Afterword By Annie Proulx.