Hard Truth
2 journalers for this copy...
Arrived some time in the last week from a paperbackswap member.
I am glad that I am reading these in chronological order. It makes it easier for me to track Barr's development of Anna and her adventures and to see what changes.
Anna Pigeon has accepted the post of District Ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park. Her deal with her new husband is that she will do it for a year and then one or the other will move to the other's location. We know her husband, Sheriff Paul Davidson, as much by his absence as his presence in these novels. Through all of Anna's traveling, he is a rock. I hope she decides to keep him.
Rocky Mountain National Park is familiar to me. I have spent time there when visiting Colorado to spend time with my younger daughter. I have not spent time on hikes, sad to say, and have not explored parts of the park that feature in this novel. Nevertheless, I know what they look like, what the land is like, what the vegetation is like. As always, Barr does a great job describing where Anna is, and as always she provides a map in the front (who draws these lovely maps?), yet I still feel closer to the action because I have been there.
When Anna arrives, the park has about given up searching for three young girls who went missing. They were part of a religious group that were separated and disappeared. A massive manhunt was undertaken, but nothing found. It has been several weeks, and most people assume that the three are dead.
Until two of them wander into the campsite of a disabled young woman and her aunt. Heath is in a wheelchair, having fallen from a great height while climbing on ice. Climbing had been her passion, and she is not taking to her new status. She is bitter and angry, as much at herself as at anything else. Her aunt, Gwen, is a retired doctor, and believes that time spent camping at Handicamp might just do her niece some good.
So when two thin little girls show up wearing nothing but underwear and bruises, both women are anxious to help. The girls appear to be disoriented and afraid. They don't even speak. Yet by her careful approach Heath seems to win the heart of one of them, the one she refers to as "the limpet". Both are in their early teens yet seem even younger.
Where is the third girl? The girls aren't saying. One of them blurts out that she "stayed with Robert" but later retracts the statement. Robert is the young man who was leading the group in the park.
The rangers are called. Anna steps in. The girls are taken to a hospital, where the police hope to gain some understanding of what happened to them. Before that can happen, however, the girls' parents are called and the parents tell them no questioning without their parents present.
The situation is odd. It turns out that the girls and their parents are part of a religious group that broke off from the LDS church and that now lives together in a remote area.
The religious group is suspect, needless to say. So while the park gears up for another search for the missing teen, Anna meets the parents at their home. She also runs into Heath a time or two, as Heath has taken a special interest in the girls. I couldn't help but think how alike Anna and Heath are, yet they don't recognize this initially.
The investigation takes many turns. And drags in many suspects. When Anna decides to do some hunting on her own she takes on a lot more than she bargained for. She is trapped in a deep, dark part of the park with little but her wits to help her. We might realize that Anna will survive, given that there are additional novels in this series, but what about the third girl? What about Heath? Others who are searching? This section of the novel is the most suspenseful yet, the most dragged-out, detailed run Barr has offered. I got no sleep the night I started reading this part, and had to finish the novel before I could let it go.
As always, so great on bringing us into the park with her, providing information on park life that we likely would not otherwise know, and creating great characters. I am hoping we meet some of them again, as some characters besides Anna do get extra print at times.
I have a few gripes with Barr, because I am who I am. In this book Heath purchases a dog. In another novel, another character purchases a cat - from a pet shop, yet. I am hoping that in time Barr recognizes that animals are not products and especially that one should not purchase animals from pet shops. Adopt! I will say that Anna gets to acquire her own companions through other means, and that the dog in this case is not purebred. I'll give her that.
Well worth reading. I am soon on to the next in the series.
Anna Pigeon has accepted the post of District Ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park. Her deal with her new husband is that she will do it for a year and then one or the other will move to the other's location. We know her husband, Sheriff Paul Davidson, as much by his absence as his presence in these novels. Through all of Anna's traveling, he is a rock. I hope she decides to keep him.
Rocky Mountain National Park is familiar to me. I have spent time there when visiting Colorado to spend time with my younger daughter. I have not spent time on hikes, sad to say, and have not explored parts of the park that feature in this novel. Nevertheless, I know what they look like, what the land is like, what the vegetation is like. As always, Barr does a great job describing where Anna is, and as always she provides a map in the front (who draws these lovely maps?), yet I still feel closer to the action because I have been there.
When Anna arrives, the park has about given up searching for three young girls who went missing. They were part of a religious group that were separated and disappeared. A massive manhunt was undertaken, but nothing found. It has been several weeks, and most people assume that the three are dead.
Until two of them wander into the campsite of a disabled young woman and her aunt. Heath is in a wheelchair, having fallen from a great height while climbing on ice. Climbing had been her passion, and she is not taking to her new status. She is bitter and angry, as much at herself as at anything else. Her aunt, Gwen, is a retired doctor, and believes that time spent camping at Handicamp might just do her niece some good.
So when two thin little girls show up wearing nothing but underwear and bruises, both women are anxious to help. The girls appear to be disoriented and afraid. They don't even speak. Yet by her careful approach Heath seems to win the heart of one of them, the one she refers to as "the limpet". Both are in their early teens yet seem even younger.
Where is the third girl? The girls aren't saying. One of them blurts out that she "stayed with Robert" but later retracts the statement. Robert is the young man who was leading the group in the park.
The rangers are called. Anna steps in. The girls are taken to a hospital, where the police hope to gain some understanding of what happened to them. Before that can happen, however, the girls' parents are called and the parents tell them no questioning without their parents present.
The situation is odd. It turns out that the girls and their parents are part of a religious group that broke off from the LDS church and that now lives together in a remote area.
The religious group is suspect, needless to say. So while the park gears up for another search for the missing teen, Anna meets the parents at their home. She also runs into Heath a time or two, as Heath has taken a special interest in the girls. I couldn't help but think how alike Anna and Heath are, yet they don't recognize this initially.
The investigation takes many turns. And drags in many suspects. When Anna decides to do some hunting on her own she takes on a lot more than she bargained for. She is trapped in a deep, dark part of the park with little but her wits to help her. We might realize that Anna will survive, given that there are additional novels in this series, but what about the third girl? What about Heath? Others who are searching? This section of the novel is the most suspenseful yet, the most dragged-out, detailed run Barr has offered. I got no sleep the night I started reading this part, and had to finish the novel before I could let it go.
As always, so great on bringing us into the park with her, providing information on park life that we likely would not otherwise know, and creating great characters. I am hoping we meet some of them again, as some characters besides Anna do get extra print at times.
I have a few gripes with Barr, because I am who I am. In this book Heath purchases a dog. In another novel, another character purchases a cat - from a pet shop, yet. I am hoping that in time Barr recognizes that animals are not products and especially that one should not purchase animals from pet shops. Adopt! I will say that Anna gets to acquire her own companions through other means, and that the dog in this case is not purebred. I'll give her that.
Well worth reading. I am soon on to the next in the series.
Reserved for a bookmoocher who requested it.
Sent to a bookmoocher.
from jlautner on BookMooch
