Libby author Berry releases new survival novel

Libby author Jerald W. Berry has released his newest book, THE HUNT, a wilderness survival novel set in the rugged mountains of northwest Montana near Libby.

In the winter of 1956, a violent Montana blizzard turns an ordinary hunting trip into a fight for survival. Forest Service wildlife biologist Mark Collins becomes lost in the vast wilderness of northwest Montana and southern British Columbia after a historic storm erases every trail, landmark, and route home. With no map, no compass, diminishing supplies, and temperatures plunging far below zero, Mark must rely on skill, determination, and sheer will to survive.

As friends, family, and search teams struggle to find him, Mark faces starvation, predators, brutal weather and the relentless isolation of the mountains. Drawing upon wilderness knowledge passed down through generations of woodsmen, he fights day by day to stay alive in one of the harshest environments imaginable. 

THE HUNT is a gripping wilderness survival adventure that captures the power of nature, the resilience of the human spirit and the enduring hope that refuses to die.

Berry said the novel draws heavily on the landscapes he’s worked in throughout his career. 

“The mountains around Libby and the Kootenai are part of the vast wilderness areas of Northcentral Idaho and Western Montana, including the Selway-Bitterroot, the Frank Church–River of No Return, the Gospel-Hump in Idaho, the Anaconda-Pintler, and our own Cabinet Mountains Wilderness here in Montana — where I had the privilege to work even a small management part — are beautiful, but they’re unforgiving. That’s the world Mark Collins has to fight his way through.”

Although THE HUNT is Berry’s first fiction novel, it reflects the realism that has defined his writing for more than five decades. “This book let me bring together my Forest Service experience, my time in the backcountry, and the survival skills I learned throughout my 30-plus year Forest Service career living in various remote areas of Montana, Idaho and Arizona,” Berry said.

Berry’s writing career began in Vietnam, where he served as a rifleman and Public Information Officer (PIO) — combat photographer and reporter for the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. 

His photographs and combat news articles were published throughout the free world, reaching audiences around the globe during the Vietnam War. He later authored five historical books documenting the combat actions of the Vietnam-era Currahees, carrying forward the legacy of the famed 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of Band of Brothers fame.

Berry and his wife, Donna, make their home in Libby. They recently celebrated 57 years together.

THE HUNT is available in hardcover, paperback and ebook through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.