SOURCE: Cryer, Dan. “A Natural Background for the Mysteries of Life.” Newsday (19 June 1995): B6.

In the following review, Cryer applauds Bass's depiction of natural landscape as a setting for deeper explorations of life's mysteries in In the Loyal Mountains.

Rick Bass' stories immerse the reader in a dreamy, languid ocean of mystery. Set in Texas, Mississippi and Montana, and told by male narrators, they probe warily around some deep, unsayable truth as if pinpointing it would break a spell. Written with a fluid, unpretentious lyricism, they are vivid and original testimonies to life's enduring strangeness. Bass emerged on the literary scene in 1989 with The Watch, a story collection that immediately marked him as an accomplished practitioner of the genre. Platte River, published last year, solidified his reputation. Meanwhile, Bass has written a series of nonfiction books—including Winter, The Ninemile Wolves and the forthcoming The Lost Grizzlies—that...