The short and satisfying tale whipped up from inside the mind of an LA mountain lion's dishes up quite a stir. This cougar, puma or mountain lion, our anthropomorphic hero has heard all these names for him, lives beneath the Hollywood sign. Hibernating during the daytime, he haunts hikers, vagrants and other colorful pedestrians, he's a particularly savvy survivor and connoisseur of people. He's cunning, curious and exceedingly ingenious. Henry Hoke's inventive fabrication of a precocious feline delivers a clever perspective from an overlooked creature living outside of society. Parodies for the piranhas of society are fierce and biting. Living hidden from the public's view in order to survive, the mountain lion delivers his lines with a wry, razor sharp edge. "There are so many hikers who go by and talk loud, '...this is not a big deal but right now I need you to listen to me...they say yeah of course the project is gay everything is gay now...they call everything a disaster..' I want to devour their sound. I have so much language in my brain and nowhere to put it." Hoke creates a sympathetic character by bestowing him human traits only to yoke us back to a startling reality as to the true nature of the beast. The reader slinks alongside the animal's hide as it makes itself invisible or when it hides out in the open. The happiest place on earth is parodied in a hilarious scenario where the mountain lion is paraded freely out in the open. Our lion is puzzled why here, he's not feared. "...inside the gates there are other animals, big animals with soft fur and faces and they stand upright and hug and blend in with the people, all the people...and no one thinks I'm strange at all and some of the kids come over and pet me." The animal's realizations become even more human-like and disconcerting when he experiences feelings of guilt and self-loathing as he considers how well off his living conditions have become while his companions suffer in poor, confined spaces. "I feel more like a person than ever because I'm starting to hate myself. I look around at all the space I have and I think of all the other spaces in this house...and I think how the people of my town could be here too. " OPEN THROAT reads like a roller-coaster ride; exhausting and exhilarating. Just when you're settled in, prepare for a big drop or an unexpected twist. Don't let our friendly foe fool you. Lest you forgot, a leopard never changes his spots. "I can smell his blood on the pavement and I'm not at all hungry, this is not about need - no this is want - it's a terrible choice but I'm making it just like a person." Make the wise choice to read OPEN THROAT. This sharp-witted social commentary is outrageously fulfilling.
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