Early each year, as certain as the arrival of robins, a new Nevada Barr mystery appears. Each of these character-driven novels stars Park Ranger Anna Pigeon, and each is set in a different national park. Barr's 14th whodunit brings us to Lake Michigan's Isle Royale, where wolves share the company of one another and a small group of scientists studying their winter habits. All is not well in the wildlife refuge: A Homeland Security team seems intent on setting up shop, thus squelching this 50-year research project. With the suspicious arrival of a dangerous wolf/dog, serious dangers really begin to percolate.
Art Taylor
One might label this book Hound of the Baskervilles meets And Then There Were None meets a Michael Crichton novel, and the narrative itself references works ranging from "Little Red Riding Hood" to The Shining. But this is a Nevada Barr book through and through, with its careful examination of how humans interact with the natural world, its infectious fascination with nature in general and those dense, resonant descriptions…Barr skillfully uses archetypal images of the wolf—myths, fairy tales and more—to deepen the suspense: wolf at the door, wolf in sheep's clothing, werewolves among us. But Pigeon knows that "wolves' reputation as cold-blooded killers of little girls in red capes was unearned," and ultimately it's not the wolf out there that's frightening, but the more sinister human nearby.
—The Washington Post
Marilyn Stasio
This is Barr's first book in three years, and she seems to have been saving up all the special effects. The blizzards, the dangerous ice and the manhunts through the frozen woods are described with crisp, hard-edged beauty. And the wolves, those maligned "ogres of childhood," are magnificent.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
In bestseller Barr's chilling 14th mystery thriller to feature National Park Service ranger Anna Pigeon (after 2005's Hard Truth), Anna joins the team of Winter Study, a research project intended to study the wolves and moose of Michigan's Isle Royale National Park, the setting for 1994's A Superior Death. Complicating the study is Bob Menechinn, an untrustworthy Homeland Security officer assigned to shadow the research. Crowded into inhospitable lodgings and persecuted by unrelenting cold, Anna is far from her comfort zone as nature turns awry with a series of bizarre events. The team stumbles upon the tracks-and the mutilated victim-of a preternaturally large, unidentified beast, and local packs of wolves descend on human-populated areas, a behavior out of step with their species. The campfire legends of youth metastasize into adult fears as Anna must piece together a connection between these anomalies while guarding herself from the strangers around her. Barr's visceral descriptions of the winter cold nicely complement the paranoia that follows the appearance of the mythic monsters at play. Author tour. (Apr.)
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Library Journal
In this 14th Anna Pigeon book, Isle Royale on Lake Superior is the scene of murder, but in the winter, when only the wolf research team and a delegate from Homeland Security inhabit the lonely outpost. As with any sequel, Barr (Hard Truth) raises the stakes with threats to her characters, especially Anna, not just from the cold but from one another, as virtually everyone is a suspect. Anna may be more superhuman than usual here as the climactic face-off occurs with Barr's descriptions embracing the terror to its fullest effect. Narrator Barbara Rosenblat is exemplary yet again, capturing the tension and menace as well as the fear. The series isn't suffering from Anna's aging or her marriage. This New York Times best seller is highly recommended.
—Joyce Kessel
JULY 2008 - AudioFile
Barbara Rosenblat delivers a smashing performance of this suspense novel filled with strong characters and the stark beauty of Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Rosenblat finds voices for the various scientists and their aides, as well as for the heroine of the series, Anna Pigeon, park ranger. Rosenblat expresses the emotional eloquence of the characters without neglecting the ever-building tension when a team member is mauled to death by wolves and a scientist disappears in what looks like a kidnapping. The story is fast-paced and action-packed. Listeners will enjoy armchair (or car seat) trekking. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
