The horrible cost of flying from revenge

Determined to believe what he suspects, Magnus devises a bizarre plan to exact his revenge, a scheme perfectly designed to punish Carson and leave him no way to fight back.

At this point, though, two unlikely players join the horse trainer in his hidden battle against Magnus. The first is Earl Walks Alone, a native American teenager who's trying to avoid the cliché models of failure and despair that people his reservation. But that effort already failed his father, a teetotaler who was nonetheless killed by a drunk driver. Earl spends his days wrapped in his mother's stultifying warnings, silently narrating a documentary of his dull life with mock solemnity: "The Careful Indian stops at all stop signs before proceeding cautiously onto the highway."

The second young man drawn into Carson's battle is Willi, a German exchange student who comes to South Dakota to fulfill a lifelong dream of living among the Lakota Indians. (Who knew there was a native American movement in Germany?) Willi knows more about tribal customs and myths than any of the Lakota teens he hangs out with, but he also knows much more about his family's shameful history than he can deal with.

It's another daring move on Meyers's part to try to weave these disparate characters together. And it's remarkable that he does it so beautifully. Each of these young men must reach into his past for the courage and knowledge necessary to resist Magnus. To perform the kind of magic that will baffle their enemy, Earl must embrace the native spirituality that he wanted to leave behind on the reservation. Willi must confront the ghastly origins of his family to realize that evil left alone will only grow. And Carson must learn to preserve what most matters to him by destroying it with honor.

"The Work of Wolves" would rather reach for profundity than play safely on the ground with irony. A few times its youthful idealism sputters with pretension, but more often than not it manages to convey some stirring insight about the nature of families, the essence of duty, and the sacred quality of land. Carson's effort to understand and articulate a sense of value that lies beyond Magnus's money is particularly provocative.

It's also a really cool story. I feel certain that somewhere in Hollywood, there's a young Clint Eastwood waiting on tables who could be propelled into stardom by "The Work of Wolves." The movie rights haven't been sold yet, and the finer points of the novel probably wouldn't survive that translation anyway, but even a typically glossy Hollywood version could bring this powerful book the attention it deserves. That might be one more risk Meyers should take.

• Ron Charles is the Monitor's book editor. Send comments about the book section toRon Charles.

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