Fiction. Duff Brenna's fifth novel, THE WILLOW MAN, hurtles along in breathless pursuit of a notorious 18-year-old car thief, Triple E, as he violates Minnesota probation and breaks for Alaska. On the road north Triple E adopts the homeless 14-year-old Mercy Jones. In Yukon Territory they themselves are stranded in Whitehorse. There Triple E locks in mortal struggle with a powerful, half-crazed sourdough named John Brown who mistakes Mercy for his long-lost daughter Mamie. Brown kidnaps Mercy to the Tombstone Mountains and the hunted fugitive Triple E becomes the hunter, charging into the teeth of Yukon winter to track down Brown and Mercy. On the surface this is the tale of a rugged manhunt; beneath the surface run currents of sexual longing, social injustice, and a young man's quest for personal redemption.
