Dead by Dawn by Paul Doiron

 Kevin Tipple is an author, reviewer, and blogger.   Kevin's Corner is his award winning news and review blog. Check it out!

 

Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch had a plan for the day as Dead By Dawn: A Novel by Paul Doiron begins. The plan is a vet visit for Shadow. The hybrid wolf/dog needs a vet visit as he continues to recover from recent events. Bowditch may also have to relocate Shadow from the acre and a half enclosure on Bowditch’s property as the new neighbors are upset that Shadow lives across the river from them. The new folks have a history of suing folks so Bowditch may need to find a new safe place for Shadow. 

While in the area to see the vet, Investigator Bowditch can address a complaint from Mariette Chamberlain. Four years ago, her father-in-law, Professor Eben Chamberlin, died in the Androscoggin River. The investigators at the time, including those of the Maine Game warden Service, put it down as accidental. Mariette Chamberlain firmly believes the professor was murdered.

After seeing the vet with Shadow, it is on to meeting with Marc Rivard who was in charge of finding Eben Chamberlain. Rivard and Bowditch have a complicated history, including the fact that Bowditch played a major role in his removal from the service, so neither man is looking forward to the meeting. That meeting foreshadows what is to come as Mike Bowditch starts investigating the Chamberlain case and, within hours, injured and fighting to stay alive.

Dead by Dawn: A Novel is split between flashbacks and current time. Part of the tale is current as he fights to stay alive after crashing into the frozen and ice-covered Androscoggin River. A river that is lethal no matter what time of year. Not only is the river and the aftereffects of water immersion a major threat there is a shooter determined to finish the job. 

The flashbacks are in alternating chapters and detail how the day had been going until the crash. Each flashback chapter is slightly forward in time as it details Bowditch’s thoughts and actions as he dealt with personal matters and worked the case by way of interviewing numerous people. 

The result is a tale that slowly goes forward as it spends far more time in the preceding hours before he got himself in a life and death situation with few resources and no backup. A predicament that Bowditch manages to escape deadly consequences again and again by way of his training, inner fortitude, and with the occasional help of Shadow. 

Set a few days before Christmas, the read is very much focused on Bowditch and his fight for life. Because of this, there is very little presence of Charley, Orca, and the numerous other folks who have always populated this every enjoyable series. They are very much missed in a read that also serves as a possible turning point in the series. 

Dead By Dawn: A Novel is a suspense style read with some mystery present. There are a couple of mysteries at work, professionally and personally, but this is a read that is primarily a fight for survival. While a good book, it is not a great one. It also is a departure from what the reader normally expects in this series. Instead, the read here has much in common with the end of season television cliffhanger where the hero is in danger and yet viewers know that the series was renewed months earlier so there is no question that he will survive. Even when the situation is so dire a mere mortal would not. The only question is how.

  

Dead by Dawn: A Novel

Paul Doiron

http://www.pauldoiron.com

Minotaur Books (Macmillan Publishers)

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250235107

ISBN# 978-1-250-23510-7

Hardback (available in audio and eBook formats)

304 Pages

 

My reading copy came from the Polk-Wisdom Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2021

One Last Lie by Paul Doiron

Please welcome back Kevin Tipple, long time reviewer and avid reader.  His blog, Kevin's Corner, is an award winning source of news and reviews of crime and mystery fiction. 

Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch is in Florida due to a background check on a new hire and a little more when he gets a phone call from Ora Stevens. She is very concerned as her husband, Charles Stevens, has not been in contact with her for over 41 hours. The legendary Game Warden is not answering his phone and he had left her a rather odd note while she was sleeping. Something has him stirred up and she thinks she knows when it happened though what happened is a huge question.

During a recent trip, while they were separated, she thinks something happened as when he was back with her his mood had changed drastically. She thinks that he might have bought something from one of the dealers though she did not see him do it. By the next morning he had left, and she has no idea where he went or what he is off doing. Ora is very worried and reached out to Mike as he is family and she is alone and worried about her husband.  Charley is the father Mike Bowditch never had so there is no question he is dropping everything to come back and hunt for his mentor.

That hunt for Charley is what moves the plot and the action in One Last Lie: A Novel. Like the changing beauty of the Maine wilderness, the past is a constant theme in this series and it certainly is here. Whether it be the past in the form of his father, an old girlfriend, a cold case, or his history with Charley, among other things, looking back is a strong theme throughout the work. All those hooks into the past can make the present a bit shaky even before somebody tries to kill you.

Unlike many authors who has several books and then seen to have some reads that are not as satisfying, Paul Doiron continues to create intense and deeply moving installments in this series. One Last Lie: A Novel is no exception as it proves in more than one-way Charley Stevens is dead on right. He often is.

I received an ARC from the author with no expectation of a review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020

Almost Midnight by Paul Doiron

Once again, we welcome back Kevin Tipple with a review.  Catch up with more reviews, book news, and interesting links at his blog, Kevin's Corner.

As Almost Midnight by Paul Doiron begins, Mike Bowditch is on vacation and fishing. He deserves it and needs it after being promoted to Warden Investigator and moving to his new area. He was enjoying his rare break until he got a phone call about Billy Cronk. Billy wants to see him and as always with Billy the matter is urgent and can’t be spoken about over the phone. Which makes sense since Billy Cronk is in prison as a result of the actions he took as he saved Mike Bowditch’s life. 

The legal system saw Cronk’s actions as excessive and he is now serving a prison sentence. The fact that locking up a man who, at the best of times, wasn’t the most mentally stable weighs heavily on Mike as does his guilt over testifying as there was no around the truth of what Billy did that fateful day. By telling the unvarnished truth, which Bowditch felt he had to do; his testimony was a major point for Billy’s conviction.

 

Billy has been known to relate unhinged conspiracy theories before and Mike Bowditch has no idea if the latest situation is another one of those deals or not. On the face of it, maybe not. Billy explains that they have a new CO, Dawn Ritchie. She is a sergeant and a transfer in from another facility that was recently closed by the Governor. Billy wants Bowditch to investigate her and to do it fast, but quietly. Frustratingly, Billy absolutely refuses to say and then plays the trump card that Bowditch owes him.

Bowditch is very aware of that, but for him to stick his neck out, Billy has to give him a reason. The blowback he would get over an unauthorized investigation would be immense and with zero justification he just can’t do it. Bowditch refuses.

That is until with hours, chaos erupts at the prison with severe consequences for Billy, Richie, and others. What happened inside and later at the hospital is very complicated as are the background events that led up to the violence. As things escalate, Bowditch uses his vacation time to conduct his own unauthorized investigation into the case as well as deal with some other situations in two separate and meaningful secondary storylines.

The result of all these complicated situations and characters makes Almost Midnight another very good read in the series. As always, the human dynamics of various characters are interwoven with the beauty, often a stark and potentially fatal beauty, of the Maine wilderness. The character of Bowditch, as well as his relationships with others, continues to evolve making it very important to read this series on order. Those already familiar with the books and short stories will find another compelling and enjoyable read in Almost Midnight: A Novel. 

 

Almost Midnight: A Novel

Paul Doiron

http://www.pauldoiron.com

 

My reading copy came from the Polk-Wisdom Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2019