Peter Heller’s ‘The Guide’ a suspenseful sequel

“The Guide,” by Peter Heller (Alfred A. Knopf)

In his new mystery, author Peter Heller pulls off a rare balancing act once again: He gives us fast-paced action and intrigue, interspersed with closely observed, reflective nature writing.

Speed up for the crime-solving, slow down for the Zen.

The guide of the title is Jack, one of the heroes of Heller’s 2019 “The River.” A few years after that book’s fateful canoe trip through a fire-scorched Canadian wilderness, Jack is now back in his home state of Colorado, suffering from what he likens to PTSD.

In Heller’s books, nature poses dangers (in “The Guide,” the world outside the lodge is dealing with the spread of a novel virus). But real evil comes from people, who use the wilderness’ wide-open spaces to commit and hide crimes. Passages celebrating the canyon’s natural beauty are punctuated by Jack’s sense of something unnatural and claustrophobic at the lodge.

What holds it all together is the likeable character of Jack. A diffident “cowpoke” with expert backcountry survival skills, he is also a reader, a thinker, a guy who keeps fence-making tools and dynamite in the back of his truck along with volumes of poetry.

As in Maclean’s books, fishing gets its own star turn. It’s a source of solace, focus and connection. Heller uses many opportunities to capture it poetically, keeping the river at the center of this tale, too.