Boar Island by Nevada Barr

Reviewed by Kristin

Ever since I began reading Nevada Barr’s mysteries set in U.S. national parks, I’ve been hoping that she would write one based in Acadia National Park.  It’s been twenty-three years since I’ve been there, but I opened Boar Island eagerly.  Set mainly on the rocky islands off the coast of Maine, this latest entry in the Anna Pigeon series kept me turning the pages.

The action begins in Colorado where Anna’s young friend Elizabeth has become the victim of a vicious cyber bully.  (Elizabeth and her paraplegic mother Heath were recently seen in an another book:  Destroyer Angel.)  Deciding that the best way to deal with the bully is to remove Elizabeth from the situation, Heath and her Aunt Gwen decide that they will go along to Acadia as Anna is about to take a three week position as acting chief ranger.  The park itself presents physical challenges, especially for Heath using her motorized wheelchair that she has dubbed “Robo-butt” or her prototype mechanical skeleton support nicknamed “Dem Bones”.

Unfortunately, even with parental limitations on electronic devices, Elizabeth’s cyber stalker still manages to contact her.  Could it be possible that someone followed them from Colorado to Maine in order to torment Elizabeth?  Determining jurisdiction for internet based crime is always difficult, and Anna finds that local law enforcement agencies are reluctant to take charge of an investigation.

Alternating chapters bring in the story of Denise, an Acadian park ranger who has recently been dumped by Peter, a senior ranger, in favor of the much younger Lily.  Denise tries to hide her jealousy over Peter and Lily’s baby, Olivia, but she yearns for a child of her own.  Denise soon finds a long lost family member who sets her upon a journey of self-discovery and reinvention.

Although I enjoyed the picturesque Maine setting of the book, Acadia National Park wasn’t as big of a presence as other parks in earlier books.  The waves crashing into Thunder Hole are mentioned briefly, but more descriptions of the sunrise on top of Cadillac Mountain, the pink granite of Otter cliffs, or even the variety of hiking trails would have painted a more scenic picture of the park.  Since I have visited Acadia, I am sure that I was filling in some of the gaps with my own memories.  Other readers might not be so fortunate, and I know the thrill of visiting other parks vicariously through Barr’s descriptions in other books in the series.

The two storylines eventually come together as Barr deftly weaves the threads bringing relationships and hidden actions to light.  One particular character begins to show possible signs of mental instability, and Barr keeps the reader guessing for a while—does this character have a legitimate complaint against others or is it all in their mind?  Another character acts in a very irrational manner as well, taking drastic actions to defend their family against a perceived threat.  Parts of the mysteries are known to the reader, but not revealed to Anna and her cohorts.  Other parts are kept a mystery until the very end.  Full of suspense, family and nature, fans of Anna Pigeon should enjoy this latest trek to the far northeastern United States.

Destroyer Angel by Nevada Barr

Reviewed by Kristin

Nevada Barr jumps right into the action in her newest book,  Destroyer Angel.  Anna Pigeon is on a camping and canoeing trip in the Iron Range area of northern Minnesota with two women and their teenage daughters.  One of the women, Heath, is a paraplegic and the other, Leah, is a designer of adaptive outdoor equipment. The trip will serve as a test for some of Leah’s designs. Returning from a solo canoe trip on the Fox River one evening, Anna hears a group of men taking the other women and girls captive.  Anna stays hidden and follows the group, hoping to help the campers escape.

With such an abrupt jump into the action, I didn’t feel that I knew the camping party characters at all.  Eventually they are revealed during their adventure, but it took me a little time to understand who was who, and why they were acting in whatever manner was characteristic of each of them.  Anna is such a familiar character because Barr has written seventeen previous adventures.  (Read a review of The Rope, a prequel to the series, here.)

Heath is Elizabeth’s adoptive mother, and a paraplegic.  She was very active before her accident, and continues to be physically active and good natured about her limitations.  She and the fifteen year old Elizabeth have a very good relationship.  The other woman is Leah, a brilliant and wealthy designer of outdoor equipment.  While she easily becomes lost in her work, she is often distant from Katie, her thirteen year old daughter.

When a group of four men come into the camp and force the mothers and daughters to come with them, the scared captives must work together to keep everyone safe and alive.  Leah converts the prototype, lightweight wheelchair into a unicycle chair so that they can maneuver Heath over the rough territory.  The men, or “thugs” as they are referred to in Anna’s mind, are not cut out for back country hiking.  While the “dude” seems to be the leader, (and yes, he is actually called “dude” by his compatriots) there is definitely someone else calling the shots.  The women do all they can to take whatever advantages their outdoor knowledge affords them.  The men are not at all prepared for the rigors of walking several miles in the woods.  However, they are the ones with the knives and guns.  As Anna follows the men and their captives, she does all she can to save her companions.

The tension filled action continues; it kept me on edge and urgently reading to find out what the group’s fate would be.  Eventually most of the characters emerge from the woods bloody and battered, but alive.  (I said most, but won’t tell you which ones.)  While most Anna Pigeon books do show humans who are challenged by nature and other humans, this is definitely one of the darker volumes as Anna must look into her own soul while she attempts to stop the thugs by any means possible.

The Rope by Nevada Barr

Reviewed by Kristin

Anna Pigeon is a national park ranger who Nevada Barr has been writing about since 1993, beginning with Track of the Cat.  After adventures in a variety of locations, including the Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, Ellis Island, the Nachez Trace Parkway, Yosemite and more, Barr takes Anna back in time to her very first job within the national park system.  After the sudden death of her young husband, a broken-hearted Anna takes a seasonal job at the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area in Page, Arizona.  New York City’s sidewalks were the closest to wilderness Anna had experienced to that point.  So, when Anna goes missing ten days after her arrival, her co-workers think she has just gotten spooked and run back to the big city.

But Anna didn’t run back to New York.  On her day off, she takes a hike, ill-prepared as she is.  After borrowing a hat from a co-worker, Anna sets off with less than a liter of water, a map, and a plant identification pamphlet.  Wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt and thin black tennis shoes, Anna is soon overheated and wondering how in the world what looks like a mile walk up a canyon could be so much more difficult than tramping all over Manhattan.  Sunburned, out of water and without any food, Anna is soon lured into a trap.

Anna wakes and finds herself down a hole, naked and defenseless.  As she tries to recall how she got there, she realizes that someone is working against her.  Someone is providing food and water to keep her alive but helpless in isolated captivity.  Anna eventually does escape (we had to know that up front, since we know there have been many other adventures written, didn’t we?) and then goes on a quest to figure out who did this to her, as well as to figure out how to be successful in her new life as a national park service seasonal worker.

This latest book in the Anna Pigeon series was very enjoyable as it provided a look back into how she began working in the national park system.  Seeing a younger Anna closer to the pain that drove her away from big city life showed me more of what formed her character.

I always enjoy reading about the variety of landscapes as Anna moves from one national park setting to another.  The constantly changing background keeps the series feeling fresh, as Anna meets new people in new locations.  Barr is a compelling author who moves the story along seemingly effortlessly.  Her next book in the series, Destroyer Angel, is set in the northern Minnesota woods, and due out in April 2014.