Borderline

February 23, 2009
Bestseller Barr skillfully blends sticky border issues, marital strife and politics in her exciting 15th novel to feature National Park Service ranger Anna Pigeon. Anna, on leave because she's still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder suffered in 2008's Winter Study
, takes a delayed honeymoon with her sheriff husband, a rafting trip in Texas's Big Bend National Park. The Rio Grande reveals a number of surprises, including a stranded cow and, more disturbingly, a dying pregnant woman caught in a strainer. Fortunately, the resourceful Anna is able to perform a C-section and save the baby's life if not the mother's. Things get really serious after a sniper kills first the couple's guide and then a fellow rafter. Meanwhile, at Big Bend's Chisos Mountain Lodge, Houston mayor Judith Pierson announces she's running for governor, and her security chief must worry about keeping Pierson's errant husband in line. The vivid Texas backdrop lends color. Author tour.

Starred review from March 15, 2009
Will a river-running trip down the Rio Grande help park ranger Anna Pigeon recover from her devastating winter in Isle Royale ("Winter Study")? Wrung out and struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, Anna has been put on administrative leave. She and husband Paul opt to vacation in Texas's Big Bend National Park. The group trip quickly hits the rapids, leaving them raftless and helping a half-drowned woman give birth at the river's edge. Who is she, and is she a Mexican national? When this stranger dies and a sharpshooter starts aiming at the tourists, Anna moves into full gearwith a newborn baby in her arms. The parallel story involves Darden White, a longtime security guard smoothing the way for his charge, who is launching a campaign for governor at Big Bend. Mayor Judith Pierson is as scrappy as Anna, and when the two story lines intersect, fierce action ensues. Straddling the U.S.-Mexico border, the Rio Grande makes a fitting metaphor for the undercurrents in our two countries' relationships. Leave it to Anna to tackle both racism and sexism in her usual, indefatigable way. An essential series for all public library mystery collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 12/08.]Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2009
Unable to shakethe despondency and self-doubt that settled on her afterher horrific experiences atIsleRoyale (Winter Study, 2008), Anna is put on administrative leave. In a move designed to help her recover, her husbandarranges to take her on a guided rafting trip in Big Bend National Park, which straddles the border between Texas and Mexico. Their companions are four college students. Within hours of their departure, the raft careens into rocks andis lost.The occupants have barely recovered from the shock whenone of them makes agruesome discovery: the body of a very pregnant woman caught among tangled branches.Though unable to save the woman, Annasaves the child, whosewelfare becomes her mission.Unfortunately, some people have other plans for thetiny new life and the struggling rafters.Arivetingseries ofgut-wrenching eventsheads the book, winding down about midway as thepersonalities on shore and the mystery surrounding the childcome into focus.Barr isless successful than usual in masking her evildoers, but herextraordinary ability to create electrifying dramain the natural world is unequivocal, as is her compelling portrait of Annareal enough to touch as she struggles toregain herconfidence, her enthusiasm, andher sense of self.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)