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John Yunker
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The Tourist Trail (Across Oceans) Paperback – July 7, 2010

by John Yunker (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 255 ratings
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A literary thriller about endangered species in the world's most remote areas, and those who put their lives on the line to protect them.

Biologist Angela Haynes is accustomed to dark, lonely nights as one of the few humans at a penguin research station in Patagonia. She has grown used to the cries of penguins before dawn, to meager supplies and housing, to spending most of her days in one of the most remote regions on earth. What she isn't used to is strange men washing ashore, which happens one day on her watch.

The man won't tell her his name or where he came from, but Angela, who has a soft spot for strays, tends to him, if for no other reason than to protect her birds and her work. When she later learns why he goes by an alias, why he is a refugee from the law, and why he is a man without a port, she begins to fall in love-and embarks on a journey that takes her deep into Antarctic waters, and even deeper into the emotional territory she thought she'd left behind.

Against the backdrop of the Southern Ocean, The Tourist Trail weaves together the stories of Angela as well as FBI agent Robert Porter, dispatched on a mission that unearths a past he would rather keep buried; and Ethan Downes, a computer tech whose love for a passionate activist draws him into a dangerous mission.
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 2
    Across Oceans
  2. Print length
    282 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Ashland Creek Press
  5. Publication date
    July 7, 2010
  6. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.64 x 8 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0979647525
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0979647529
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"What's impressive about this novel [is that] it occupies so much literary territory. It is at once a romance, an adventure story, an environmental polemic, and a keen study of just how animalistic humans are." --Phoebe Literary Journal

"The Tourist Trail is epic, sprawling and strikingly cinematic." --Our Hen House

"I promise that you will finish the book with a different perspective regarding our responsibility to life in the sea." --Penguin News Today

"This is a book for all of humanity, one that questions our actions and leaves us quaking with the consequences." --This Dish is Veg

"This eco-thriller is a plausible and entertaining page-turner that offers romance, engaging characters, and a fascinating plot." -- IndieReader(Winner of the 2012 IndieReader Popular Fiction Award)

From the Back Cover

"What's impressive about this novel [is that] it occupies so much literary territory. It is at once a romance, an adventure story, an environmental polemic, and a keen study of just how animalistic humans are...It is a reader's pleasure, due in large part to the meticulous control with which Yunker commands his language."
--Phoebe Literary Journal

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ashland Creek Press (July 7, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 282 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0979647525
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0979647529
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.64 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 255 ratings

About the author

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John Yunker

John Yunker

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John is author of the novels The Tourist Trail and Where Oceans Hide Their Dead.

DEVILS' ISLAND, a mystery co-authored with Midge Raymond, is forthcoming in September 2024.

He edited the Among Animals anthology series as well as the groundbreaking collection of essays Writing for Animal: New Perspectives for Writers and Instructors to Educate and Inspire. He is co-founder of Ashland Creek Press, an independent publisher devoted to animal and environmental literature.

He is also co-founder of Byte Level Research and is passionate about languages and cultures. He wrote the books Beyond Borders and Think Outside the Country, among others.

His plays have been produced by theaters in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oregon and Washington DC.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
255 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Patty
5.0 out of 5 stars A new favorite!! Great novel in so many ways.
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2013
Verified Purchase
The Tourist Trail, by John Yunker, is one of those books that I'd heard so much good about for quite a while, and for whatever reason didn't get a chance to read right away. I had it on my list to read, as soon as possible, and once 2013 rolled around I decided to allow myself the time to read it. I am so happy that I did, and wished I would have sooner. It's a book that I know I'll end up reading once a year, which is only a rare book that I love enough to know that I'll want to return to it over and over again. It was fantastic! The plot is engrossing, and there were scenes that literally had me on the edge of my seat, breezing through pages, having intense emotions about what was happening, or was going to happen. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking. I grew attached to the characters, both human and non-human animals, and became so invested in their lives and wellbeing. It was the sort of situation where, at the end of the book, I wish I knew the characters, and wished I could be right out their with them effecting real change for the animals, and living a life fully engaged in that paramount cause. This is a book that will recommend to all of my family and friends, but further, it's a book that I would recommend to everyone. I wish there were more like it, in the world! A great read, and it is an important book.
One person found this helpful
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Ionia Froment
4.0 out of 5 stars Well written
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2013
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I liked the complexities in this book. There are different viewpoints amongst the characters and I felt they were well developed and intelligent. Does this author have an agenda? maybe, but the book was well written and I found it entertaining and didn't think the romance was overdone. I like to read books where the characters feel passionately about something and this book displays that perfectly. I thought the dialogue was good because it was simple and there wasn't a ton of extra speech that weighed down the story. The book kept moving and actually surprised me a couple of times. I would read another book by this author.
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Schuyler T Wallace
3.0 out of 5 stars COMPLICATED BUT INTERESTING AND ENTERTAINING
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2012
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John Yunger's first novel, THE TOURIST TRAIL, is an ambitious undertaking. He has woven many themes, i.e. environmental causes, ecoterrorism, romance, and the high seas into a single story populated with complex and rabid characters who are matter-of-fact in their embrace of martyrdom. Does it all work? Sort of.

Biologist Angela Haynes is a penguin researcher in Patagonia, accustomed to a lonely life in a desolate landscape. But she's dedicated and driven, enduring the bites and scratches of wild birds that object to having tracking tags attached to them. Nothing distracts her, and hasn't for years, until a scraggly stranger shows up and eventually convinces her to follow him on his continuing war against whale poachers.

Others are also following Aeneas, Angela's mysterious new friend. Robert and Lynda, a couple of FBI agents, want to arrest him. Ethan, searching for Annie, his lost love, is trying to find him because he believes Aeneas holds the secret of her disappearance. Annie, Ethan's love interest, is an environmental activist who has spent a lot of time in jail for protesting various causes before her untimely vanishing act. Jake, in reality Robert under cover, falls for Noa, another of Aeneas' followers, compromising his law enforcement role. The author is able to keep all this humanity in check and ties them neatly together by the end of the book.

Yunger writes about what he knows. As a former penguin researcher himself, he develops the reader's interest in penguins through extensive reportage on their lives. You'll know more about penguins than you ever imagined after reading this book. His writing is straightforward and crisp; his characters, although somewhat flat, are clearly defined; his scenic backdrops are magnificent. I could actually feel the grit of the Patagonia scrublands and the chill of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica.

Although not as rabid about eating vegetables and embracing environmental causes as the author appears to be, I was not turned off because of any preaching in his writing. Some of his reasoning for character turnabouts seemed somewhat unimaginative to me. But, on the whole, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it as an informative and entertaining read.

Schuyler T Wallace
Author of TIN LIZARD TALES
11 people found this helpful
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BigAl
5.0 out of 5 stars A Thriller with a Lesson
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2010
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As a rule I read nonfiction to learn. Fiction is for entertainment. In "The Tourist Trail" I found what I wanted and expected. It contains adventure. There are characters you'll quickly start caring about and a lot of conflict to overcome. You'll find plenty of romances to spice things up. All the elements of a good thriller are here and, if that's what you're looking for, you should come away satisfied.

Fiction, however, can also teach you things that nonfiction can't. It can help you understand a point of view that, given your life experiences, would be difficult. By putting yourself in the shoes of another you can better understand them. This was the case with "The Tourist Trail."

As in Edward Abbey's environmentalist classic "The Monkey Wrench Gang," the group at the center of this story, the Cetacean Defense Alliance (CDA), is out to sabotage their foes - the scene has just moved from the desert to the ocean. They object to whaler's who continue indiscriminate harvesting of what they believe is an endangered species. They oppose long-line fishermen who they think kill too many birds and other seagoing life as "incidental catch." Their philosophy was summed up in this quote:

"When you raise cattle, you at least feed them. But fishermen don't feed fish. They just take. They even take the food the fish eat. Sheer avarice."

But not everyone agrees with the CDA's methods, calling them "eco-terrorists." That's what the FBI thinks (although the FBI agent chasing them is conflicted). You'll have to decide for yourself. Regardless of what you decide you'll come away with a better understanding of the ocean-environmentalist movement and a good read.
35 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Different
Reviewed in Canada on October 10, 2013
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I enjoyed this book mainly because it was different from many of the other books I have read. The information on animal life was interesting with a human story along with it.
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Anne
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2012
Verified Purchase
Set in Antarctica and centred on the threat to fish and marine life (especially penguins and whales) this book tells the story of several people who become involved in eco-terrorism or whose lives are affected by it. All these people are wounded by life in some way and the events of the novel will change their lives significantly, some for better and some for worse. Told as a series of shorter stories each concentrating on one character all of the stories eventually meld together to give a true account of what happened.

The story is certainly on the side of environmentalism and is brutal on occasions in its depiction of the damage being done to marine life but it is not a rant and different characters engage with the theme of the book in different ways. Rather than leaving you angry about the situation it creates a sense of sadness. The eco-terrorists are not always portrayed as particularly noble but their cause is seen by some characters, although not all, as worth dying for. I certainly found myself thinking seriously about the issues raised in the book after I had finished reading it.

What makes this book so good, however, is the way it is written. The author uses a lyrical style which makes the book very easy and enjoyable to read. I found that each character study was different and that I could enter into the thoughts of the individual people and understand why they seemed to be swept along with events and to make the decisions which they did.

A thoughtful book, beautifully written, with engaging characters which will keep you thinking about the issues long after you have finished reading.
2 people found this helpful
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Jan Hunt
5.0 out of 5 stars A story of adventures on the high seas for the 21st century. Loved it.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2020
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You know what it's like. You hear about a book and immediately want to read it. So you buy it, put it aside until you've time to give yourself over completely to the pleasure of escaping to this enticing fictional world. And deep down inside there's that little flicker of doubt - what if it doesn't come up to expectations? How disappointing would that be? Well, The Tourist Trail didn't let me down. Far from it. I loved it. I loved the cold, bleak, beautiful setting, so convincingly described I had to turn the heating up. The penguins, whales, and other creatures stole my heart, broke it more than once, made me long to protect them from all the threats they face out there. The mixed bunch of characters were all familiar. Can't say I liked them all - but then, that's true in life too, isn't it? Really empathised with Angela - though sometimes she just needed a good shaking. Having been involved with the fight for animal rights I've met eco-warriors like Aeneas, the kind of complex guy you love, admire and hate all at the same time. And as for Ethan, what on earth was he thinking? From a gentle start the drama built until I actually think my heart was racing. Phew. Didn't want it to end, but it did. So now I'm going to go back and read it all again. Probably more than once. It's that kind of book. It stays with you.
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Judi Moore
5.0 out of 5 stars Love and penguins
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2015
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This dares to be different. It is an adventure story and a romance (a couple of romances, actually) wrapped up in a setting that you may not have come across before: conservation.
Inter alia, two different methods of conservation are brought into focus: the rather bleak life of the naturalist who counts, tags and avoids emotional contact with Chinstrap Penguins, and the rather bleak life of the saboteurs who put their own boats between whales and other marine life and the big factory fishing ships. I've used `rather bleak' for both cohorts, which might make you think this will lead to a `rather bleak' book, but it is far from that. It is immensely thought-provoking - would you drop out of your life and run away to save whales? And the characters who inhabit this unusual novel are so well drawn and so nuanced that you feel yourself swayed first one way then the other, vis a vis the running away/whale Thing, by their emotions, lack thereof, or attempts to keep same under control.

It is all set in the coldest places of the world. Usually a turn-off for me. But the heat generated by the pace of the book, through its good plot and the complex characters inhabiting it, more than made up for that.

My only caveat was within the chapter headings named for the character whose point of view we were about to experience. This is usually a good plan (one I've used myself), but here a cheat is introduced, in that sometimes one of the points of view is an alias. Not fair!

That apart, one can only hope this book is picked up by a mainstream publisher and given the circulation it deserves.
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SALLY KATE
4.0 out of 5 stars Watch out for the penguins; they bite!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2013
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I had no idea that penguins bit. The things you learn when you read novels!
The tourist trail in question is Patagonia, where cruise ships stop to let tourists take photos of themselves with the penguins.
There are a variety of people in this story; Robert, an FBI agent with tragedy in his past, Aeneas, an eco-terrorist. Angela, a scientist who "counts" penguins, Annie and Ethan, a lonely geek. All of these are linked in a tale of love and saving the world.
There is love, action, pain, adventure. A very enjoyable book.
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