Borderline [Hardcover]

Nevada Barr (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; Large Print edition (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1607518074
• ISBN-13: 978-1607518075
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,587,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nevada was born in the small western town of Yerington, Nevada and raised on a mountain airport in the Sierras. Both her parents were pilots and mechanics and her sister, Molly, continued the tradition by becoming a pilot for USAir.
Pushed out of the nest, Nevada fell into the theatre, receiving her BA in speech and drama and her MFA in Acting before making the pilgrimage to New York City, then Minneapolis, MN. For eighteen years she worked on stage, in commercials, industrial training films and did voice-overs for radio. During this time she became interested in the environmental movement and began working in the National Parks during the summers -- Isle Royale in Michigan, Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, Mesa Verde in Colorado, and then on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.
Woven throughout these seemingly disparate careers was the written word. Nevada wrote and presented campfire stories, taught storytelling and was a travel writer and restaurant critic. Her first novel, Bitterweet was published in 1983. The Anna Pigeon series, featuring a female park ranger as the protagonist, started when she married her love of writing with her love of the wilderness, the summer she worked in west Texas. The first book, Track of the Cat, was brought to light in 1993 and won both the Agatha and Anthony awards for best first mystery. The series was well received and A Superior Death, loosely based on Nevada's experiences as a boat patrol ranger on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, was published in 1994. In 1995 Ill Wind came out. It was set in Mesa Verde, Colorado where Nevada worked as a law enforcement ranger for two seasons.
The rest is, shall we say, HISTORY! Nevada's books and accomplishments have become numerous and the presses continue to roll, so in the interest of NOT having to update this page, books, awards, status on the New York Times Best Seller List -- and more -- will be enumerated with the relevant books else where on this website.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (4.5) "Politics, love and ambition are draconian.", April 7, 2009

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Borderline (Anna Pigeon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I have to say I am a fan after reading my first Anna Pigeon novel. On a forced vacation after a violent incident in her last case, park ranger Anna and her husband, Paul, have signed on to a river rafting excursion in southwest Texas' Big Bend National Park, where the Rio Grande skirts the Texas-Mexico border. The adventure begun simply enough with a few college students and a capable guide, Anna and Paul are enjoying a short hiatus from their usual responsibilities. When a series of misjudgments leaves the raft at the mercy of a flooding river, the rafters are cast ashore with few provisions, their outing become suddenly more perilous. But when a sniper starts shooting at the party, the trip is run-for-your-life dangerous.

Her professional instincts reawakened, Anna is challenged even more by the discovery of the body of a pregnant woman trapped in the debris of the Rio Grande. Horror-stricken, Anna delivers the woman's unborn baby, the tiny child awakening a maternal instinct in the pragmatic Anna that amazes her. But there is no time for personal indulgence, the child's life at risk as the stranded rafters desperately climb to safety in spite of the sniper. Nearly safe, Anna and Paul stumble upon another surprise, unsure if they face friend or foe. Clearly, in Barr's novels, expedience requires quick reactions. Anna must trust her survival instincts if she is to save herself, the infant and her companions.

Meanwhile, a political rally in the park serves as a venue for Huston mayor Judith Pierson to announce her run for the governorship of Texas. A feisty and savvy politician, Pierson is a conservative Ann Richards, border issues high on her list of priorities. By Judith's side is ex-secret service agent Darden White. A long personal relationship with the mayor alerts Daren to Judith's every mood. Currently he fears there is trouble in paradise, Judith and her husband having difficulty hiding the rancor between them. Watching all with a trained eye, Darden is unnerved by Judith's actions, his concern exacerbated by the announcement of the fatal shootings and the rescue on the Rio Grande.

Soon all are embroiled in a collision of political agendas and the safety of a newborn, a maze of personal agendas as opportunistic politics intrude on the environment's pristine beauty. Barr rises above petty political positions, creating nuanced characters and the grandeur of the Big Bend National Park, violence and revenge sharply contrasted against nature's stark indifference. The beauty of this untamed wilderness is all the more poignant for the trail of dead bodies in the wake of Anna's delivery of an innocent child. Anna Pigeon is a spunky protagonist, a woman who values herself and the world she inhabits. In this well-rounded character, a woman of her generation, Barr puts the human back in nature. Luan Gaines/2009.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars back on track, April 15, 2009

By 

mantis "kds" (alexandria, va) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Borderline (Anna Pigeon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I found Borderline to be much more of a page-turner than the previous Anna Pigeon mystery, Winter Study. It was also less violent (a good thing). I have been a fan since the first book in the series and recommend reading them in order. Anna has indeed matured and grows more complex and interesting with each book. Nevada Barr is one of the few authors that I follow closely; I buy her books as soon as they come out and have never been disappointed.

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Half and Half, April 9, 2009

By 

COH (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Borderline (Anna Pigeon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I am a big fan of the Anna Pigeon series but this one gets a mixed review. The first half, about Anna's rafting trip and her struggle with PTSD, is compelling and pushes the story along like a raft in whitewater. The second
plot, surrounding a politician's ambition and her relationship with one of her bodyguards, brings that raft up against a boulder and the raft starts to swamp. Fans of the series will enjoy it nonetheless, but first time readers should start with one of the other books in the series!