Hard Truth

February 14, 2005
In Barr's taut 13th thriller to feature Anna Pigeon (after 2004's High Country
), the 50-ish National Park Service ranger leaves her new husband, Paul, back in Mississippi, to assume a new post in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, where she encounters a serial killer and a strong, determined woman, Heath Jarrod, much like herself. Heath, a former ice climber now confined to a wheelchair after a near-fatal fall, feels depressed, isolated and helpless. She's camping in the national park with her physician, who's also her aunt, when a pair of battered young girls, two of three missing from a nearby religious retreat, appear at the campsite. Heath and Anna at first dislike one another, but join forces to break the silence enforced by the retreat's domineering head and discover why the youngsters vanished, who took them, where they were and what happened to the third girl. Barr skillfully weaves contemporary issues of parental responsibility, religious and political separatism, and sexual abuse into her harrowing story. She carefully sets the scene in the first part of the book, which builds to a spectacular climax that pits Anna against evil incarnate. Noted for her precise plotting and atmospheric descriptions of nature, Barr again proves her skill in putting believable characters in peril against a backdrop of breathtaking scenery. Agent, Dominick Abel. National author tour.

Just married, Ranger Anna Pigeon leaves her honeymoon to begin her new job at Rocky Mountain National Park. A month after three young girls disappear from a religious retreat, two of them wander into the camp of Heath Jarrod, a woman confined to a wheelchair as a result of a climbing accident. Pigeon begins an investigation that uncovers the brutal butchery of small animals, a bizarre religious cult, and the unspeakable evil of a sadistic psychopath. Barbara Rosenblat expertly navigates the twists and turns of Barr's precision plotting. Rosenblat's Golden Voice makes even the least important characters three-dimensional. From messianic maniac to depressed paraplegic, Rosenblat's commanding performance makes Nevada Barr's thirteenth Anna Pigeon mystery one of the best. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

June 1, 2006
Being a new bride doesnt change Anna Pigeon as she leaves her husband in Mississippi for a new post as district ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. What Barr does here is allow another character to share the burden of the plot. A paraplegic visitor to the park, Heath Jarred inadvertently rescues two of three girls who have been missing prior to Annas arrival. Anna and Heath prove to be compelling adversaries, as they try to find the truth and save the girls from one of Barrs most disturbing villains and/or the mysterious religious sect from which they come. The plot twists are among the authors most complex, creating a well-paced story. Read masterfully, as usual, by Barbara Rosenblat, this 13th Pigeon mystery is one of the best of the series. Recommended.Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY

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