Book Description:
Published: August 7, 2012
Audio
Stars: 4
Maine game warden Mike Bowditch has been sent into exile, transferred by his superiors to a remote outpost on the Canadian border. When a blizzard descends on the coast, Bowditch is called to the rustic cabin of a terrified couple. A raving and half-frozen man has appeared at their door, claiming his friend is lost in the storm.
But what starts as a rescue mission in the wilderness soon becomes a baffling murder investigation. The dead man is a notorious drug dealer, and state police detectives suspect it was his own friend who killed him. Bowditch isn’t so sure, but his vow not to interfere in the case is tested when he finds himself powerfully attracted to a beautiful woman with a dark past and a troubled young son. The boy seems to know something about what really happened in the blizzard, but he is keeping his secrets locked in a cryptic notebook, and Mike fears for the safety of the strange child.
Meanwhile, an anonymous tormentor has decided to make the new warden’s life a living hell. Alone and outgunned, Bowditch turns for assistance to his old friend, the legendary bush pilot Charley Stevens. But in this snowbound landscape -— where smugglers wage blood feuds by night -— help seems very far away indeed. If Bowditch is going to catch a killer, he must survive on his own wits and discover strength he never knew he possessed.
Review –
“The excellent third novel from Edgar-finalist Dorion featuring game warden Mike Bowditch (after 2011’s Trespasser) finds Bowditch in Maine’s equivalent of Siberia, depressed Washington County, to which he was transferred after he became an embarrassment to the powers-that-be by shooting a murderer in self-defense.
Bowditch’s strict approach to enforcing licensing regulations soon earns him the enmity of some locals, one of whom affixes a coyote’s pelt to his door as a warning. One winter night, while driving home through a blizzard, the warden receives a call from the man at whose house he just had dinner, veterinarian Doc Larrabee, who needs his help with a person suffering from a severe case of frostbite. Larrabee reports that the victim of the cold, who appeared at a neighbor’s house, managed to communicate, despite his grave condition, that he had a companion.
The search for that missing companion involves Bowditch in a murder case with some truly wicked twists. Dorion matches strong characters with effective prose and subtle characterizations. Fans of Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight series, likewise set in a remote region close to Canada, will find a lot to like. Author tour. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency. (Aug.)” publishers weekly.com
Great read, but several times during the book I found myself wanting to tell Warden Bowditch to get his head out of his a**. When it comes to women, Mike is not the brightest bulb in the lamp! I hope the author gives I’m better skins as the installments progress.
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