One hell of a story, and the ending is gripping and almost unbelievable. Vaillant has the ability to explore in almost baroque detail the Russian Far East, Perestroika, hunter gatherer societies, cave art, evolution and, of course tiger biology and "theory of mind", all the while writing in clear, clean prose. This book is a page-turner, and it's also a book that can be read at least a couple more times in order to glean every last detail.

The most interesting part about this book is the ambiguity Vaillant seems to hold towards what motivates a tiger to kill human beings. He uses science and logic to demonstrate that tigers only attack humans under very specific conditions, for biologic reasons.

But in the next breath Vaillant will relay the experiences of hunters, indigenous people and other humans throughout the ages who have learned to live with tigers, and who believe humans and tigers must agree to coexist. If humans violate this unspoken agreement, the tiger will attack out of vengeance.

Vaillant doesn't entirely settle this question, which makes the book so compelling.