|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
This 19th in the Anna Pigeon series by Nevada Barr appears just in time for the National Park Service Centennial Celebration. Barr has been placing Anna in national parks around the US since the first in the series, TRACK OF THE CAT, in 1993. This time around, Anna is on a short term assignment at Acadia National Park in Maine, and Barr does her usual brilliant job of bringing Mt. Desert Island, as well as Boar Island and the surrounding sea, to life. One of the joys of reading an Anna Pigeon mystery is coming away feeling as though you've just been on a trip to the wilderness.
Characters introduced in Barr's previous novel in the series, DESTROYER ANGEL, continue to play a major role in this new book: Heath, Anna's friend who has been paralyzed from the waist down, and her teenage daughter, Anna's goddaughter, Elizabeth. Recently, Elizabeth has been viciously cyberstalked, so when Anna leaves to head to her assignment in Acadia, Elizabeth, Heath, and her aunt Gwen take the opportunity to escape the nastiness and join Anna on the coast of Maine. Conveniently, Gwen has an old friend who owns an island, Boar Island, within a short boat ride from Mt. Desert Island. Unfortunately, when the women arrive at the deserted island, they are faced with a 30' solid granite pillar upon which is perched a decaying mansion. The difficulty of the isolated landscape for a handicapped woman plays prominently in the plot.
Anna faces her own trials as her posting corresponds with the reunion of disturbed twins who decide that the only way they will be able to stay together is through murder. Anna stands in their way. Anna is aging a bit in this book, and the reader feels her aches and pains as she attempts to help Elizabeth avoid harm from her cyberstalker who has traveled across the country to become a physical stalker. Her focus on her friends' personal problems causes Anna to miss some signs of danger from the menacing twins, and this places her in grave peril.
Barr's characterization skills are on display in BOAR ISLAND as in all of her other books. She seems to be opening up some space for new characters, especially for Heath. It will be interesting to see if this is an ongoing direction for the series. The seaside locale is very well developed in this book, with the stoic lobstermen equally well described. The reader feels the anguish and frustration caused by being a victim of cyberstalking. This is an engaging read that ends up being more than a simple mystery.
§ Sharon Mensing is the Head of School of Emerald Mountain School, an independent school in the mountains of Colorado, where she lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors.
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, January 2016
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
