Mortal Fall

February 29, 2016
National Park Service police officer Monty Harris, the narrator of Carbo’s compulsively readable second novel of suspense set in Montana’s Glacier National Park (after 2015’s The Wild Inside), suspects the fatal fall that biologist Paul “Wolfie” Sedgewick took over a cliff was no accident. One of the leading members of the Wolverine Research Team, Paul was an experienced hiker who knew the terrain well. When Monty, who admits he has an “overzealous affection for order,” investigates, he learns that Paul’s studies of the park’s wolverine population made the biologist some enemies. Carbo does a good job of balancing Monty’s emotional anxieties connected with the long-ago disappearance of a childhood friend, Nathan Faraway, with sweeping descriptions of Glacier’s grandeur. The parade of new cast members, though distracting at times, never slows Monty’s steady pace toward uncovering the truth. Readers may feel one step ahead of Monty up to the climax, when the more satisfying revelations relate to the park officer’s personal life. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

March 15, 2016
When a dead body, broken and bloodied, is found at the base of a cliff in Montana's Glacier National Park, officer Monty Harris investigates. He must also break the awful news to the dead man's widow, and here we see how Carbo brings subtlety and sensitivity to the smallest of moments. The widow moves to straighten her hair. Stops. No need now, with the love of her life gone forever. Shortly afterward, the backstory takes over the criminal investigation, and we learn of Monty's miserable childhood: neurotic mom, alky dad, bullying big brother. And, too, there's the matter of Monty's estranged wife attempting to get him back. Then a second body turns up, and the narrative changes course again, morphing into a fine procedural. Monty moves among the dead man's lovers, coworkers, and bartenders until he understands what has happened. The lengthy immersion in backstory may turn off readers who want just a tale of detection, but those willing to soak up the character-driven context will find much to enjoy here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)