"Gray Wolf" is not the first Rutherford Montgomery book I've read, but I did not enjoy it as much as my previous reads. Gray wolves Speed and Flash are raising their first litter of pups when a renegade loafer wolf challenges for leadership of the pack, eventually bringing them into conflict with men, and bringing the wrath of the cattlemen down upon all.

One of the strengths of Rutherford Montgomery's works is that he doesn't try to Disney-fy the wild, but tells the stories of forest and ranch in a true and believable fashion. Gray Wolf was just a little too grim for my mood. Still, it was an engaging read, and I do recommend it. ( )

From vintage scholastic cover: Last of the great gray wolves--fleet, savage Sped, iron-jawed killer of the high country.

Too cunning for poison, too swift for traps and dogs, he eludes every hunter. Can one of his own breed be trained to challenge him?

What will happen when the two mighty lobos--father and son--meet in deadly battle? ---- From flyleaf: I want him killed! Col. Wilkins, owner of Bar-B Ranch, demanded action.

"This old lobo has cost me more money than I pay you fellows in six pay days."

Treon, the Indian, said he would hunt down the great wolf. Hank Lee, cow hand, bet he would get the wolf first. "That old boy is not the only wolf in these parts, says Lee. "Seven," says Treon. Wisest and most wily of the pack is Speed. --- Gray Wolf is told from both animal and human points of view. No person or animal is considered, by the narrator, to be "bad" or "evil."