The Signal is an interesting modern western romance adventure that has too much going on.

Mack and his ex-wife, Vonnie, have divorced, but agree to go on one last hike in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Mack intends to show Vonnie he’s still a capable man, while Vonnie sees it as a bookend on their relationship. Unfortunately, debts on his ranch are piling up, so Mack takes a job from a shady entrepreneur–the same group that got Mack into crime and why Vonnie divorced him in the first place. He’s to locate a fallen military plane around Clear Lake, where they plan to hike. What’s a little detour going to hurt?

Ron Carlson has a talent for writing real people and scenery. Mack and Vonnie’s relationship feels genuine. There are no gaudy exhibits of love, just real exchanges between two people living their lives. Like real people, this relationship ebbs and flows, hasty decisions are made under duress, and it all eventually comes to an end.

The same can be said for the wilderness around them. They hiked the Cold Creek Trail up to Clark Lake every year on their anniversary, and this is where the novel truly shines. I’m not certain whether Carlson is a hiker or just did his homework, but the way he writes these scenes makes it feel like he’s truly at home.

All of this helps build layers on the story; however, I don’t know if it’s because I enjoy hiking that I felt the story about tracking a signal and a later encounter with poachers, which happens because of this detour, tacked on and unnecessary. When laid out, you can see the logical progression of the story as one leads into another, which leads into the other. However, the way it read to me felt like ideas were added to make the story more dense, and I don’t think it had to be.

There is a core story inside this story I think would have been less jumbled, made more sense, and better retained the themes Carlson was going for. I understand why he added what he did in the context of the whole and the road he went down. I guess I would have done it differently, but what do I know? I’m not a published author.