The Lastling — Philip Gross

Fourteen-year-old Paris is thrilled when her rich, influential uncle Franklin decides to take her on a trip to the Himalayas. She hopes this will be her chance to prove just how mature and worthy of his company she is. But this will be no pleasure trip. Franklin and his friends are searching for rare and endangered species, and they travel deep into the war-ravaged forest to find them. There they come across Tahr, a twelve-year-old monk who has just seen a shocking vision—the face of a creature known before only in legends . . . and one that Franklin is determined to capture alive.
Set in an exotic land wracked by violence, cruelty, and a threatened ecosystem, this edgy and strikingly original novel offers a riveting look at morality and the harshness of nature—both human and otherwise.