The Mad Trapper

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When it began, he was just another stranger without a name. When it ended, he was the most notorious criminal in North America, the object of the largest manhunt in RCMP history.This is the story of Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper, a silent man of superhuman strength and endurance, who defied capture for fifty days in the bitter cold of winter, north of the Arctic Circle. He was a man who crossed hundreds of miles of frozen tundra on foot, who survived dynamite blasts and the pursuit of police, trappers and the army, and who became the first man to cross the Richardson Mountains in a blizzard.

Paperback: 184 pages

Publisher: Red Deer Press; 1 edition (January 29, 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 088995268X

ISBN-13: 978-0889952683

Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #2,763,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #63 in Books > Teens > Historical Fiction > Canada #784 in Books > Teens > Mysteries & Thrillers > Historical #1297 in Books > Teens > Mysteries & Thrillers > Law & Crime

This novel is based on an incident during the winter of 1932, when a trapper in the NWT, Canada by the name of "Albert Johnson" led the RCMP on a epic cross-country chase through the Canadian arctic. Although a media sensation, the story soon faded to obscurity; only to be resurrected by Dick North, a small-town newspaper editor, in his book The Mad Trapper of Rat River, and the dubious Thomas P. Kelley in his The Rat River Trapper. Both published in 1972. Soon afterwards, Saskatoon-based Granicus Films began work on a movie based on the story, enlisting Rudy Wiebe as screenwriter. When the financial backing for the movie fell through, Wiebe reworked the screenplay into a novel. Although I have yet to read much of Wiebe's work, what I have read has impressed me much, so I was looking forward to reading his take on the Mad Trapper. It was not far into the book that my interest began to wane; it is not particularly well written, but what disappointed me more was fairly significant manner in which the plot was reworked for dramatic effect. The most obvious of these changes is the role that Constable Millen plays. Also the characterization of "Wop" May, whose role in tracking of the MAd Trapper was instrumental in its success, was somewhat questionable. Not surprisingly, this novel is not considered among Wiebe's best.

First, I love the story. Second, I screwed up - I thought I was getting non-fiction. So my bad. But I consider this book pretty bad. The author, right from the get go, tries to paint the scenes like he was there. And the scenes are just these noisy, screaming, ugly scenes. It's just a terrible read. Even if I were alive before TP was invented, I wouldn't even wipe my a-- with this. I gave it 2 stars because I only read 3 chapters.

The story was slightly entertaining, but if you are into the history of this amazing story you will find it not only lacking but incorrect in many facts. Some facts were misled to completely false for the a dramatic effect that was really not needed.

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