Customer Reviews

Ice Hunter: A Woods Cop Mystery

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ice Hunter - by Joseph Heywood

Both Joseph Heywood and Steve Hamilton ("A Cold Day in Paradise", "Winter of the Wolf Moon") are striving to do for Michigan's remote upper peninsula what Tony Hillerman did for the Navajo Nation. And if their initial efforts are valid harbingers, each is on course to succeed in bringing this colorful region to life for many readers who will never actually set foot there.

Both Hamilton and Heywood have selected the UP as the backdrop for their respective mystery series. Hamilton has just released the third volume of his series, titled "The Hunting Wind", while "Ice Hunter" is the first of a promised series from Heywood. Hamilton's protagonist, Alec McKnight, is a retired Detroit cop turned tourist camp operator and private investigator, while Grady Service, the star of Heywood's new "Woods Cop" series, is a second generation Michigan State Conservation Officer or CO - what was known as a game warden when I was growing up. But Grady Service is a game warden you definitely don't want to cross. He forsakes prospects of a professional hockey career, after nearly killing a highly touted rival in a college match, then sharpens his considerable capabilities serving a tour in Vietnam as a recon Marine, before following his venerated CO father's footsteps into Michigan's elite arboreal law enforcement corps.

When we join Grady twenty years on the job have already elapsed and, now middle aged, he is known not only for his uncanny tracking skills, but also for levels of dedication and tenacity that place him in the middle of whatever trouble Michigan's north woods have to offer. He has a reputation for doing things his way rather than that of the big-business-aligned state governor (possibly a just little too similar to Michigan's current real world governor, Republican John Engler).

Like Hillerman, both Hamilton and Heywood use the quasi-exotic settings of their stories to full advantage as a source of both specific real world locations and a cornucopia of colorful characters - of the eccentric individualist variety. In Heywood's case these supporting roles run the gamut from an incestuous backwoods "ridgerunner" poacher, to a retired mafia capo turned ecologist, a hockey obsessed university geology professor, and a highly resourceful female fire warden who sets her personal sights on Service while helping him unravel a murderous conspiracy bent on despoiling a pristine wilderness tract that both have sworn to protect.

Heywood does a nice job of recreating the distinct dialect of the UP (Think of the motion picture "Fargo" for a not too dissimilar parallel patois.) While Heywood is routinely more explicit with profanity and sexual innuendo than Tony Hillerman ever was, this adds some authentic grittiness to the story, and I believe most fans of Hillerman (and certainly those of Hamilton) would be very pleased with this novel.

Along the way, during this fast moving and extremely readable narrative, CO Service handles all manner of more mundane, but no less entertaining, law enforcement challenges. Like Hillerman, Heywood has apparently spent a great deal of time researching his subject, as the characters and events ring true at every turn. Having some familiarity with the UP myself, I did notice a couple of minor geographic and chronological glitches that probably should have been caught and corrected during the editing process, but which did not detract significantly from this highly entertaining mystery.

I will be eagerly awaiting further volumes in this series. Who knows, perhaps at some point Heywood and Hamilton can do a collaborative novel and turn both of their "Yooper" heroes loose on the same caper.

Grady Service doesn't do well with people and he can't play political games. What he does is hunt down violators of fishing, hunting, dumping, and other regulations protecting the environment. His special love is the Mosquito Wilderness Tract, an unspoiled piece of land in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. When strange things start to happen in the Tract, Service launches into action.

The strange things include arson, and murder. While murder is normally reserved for the county police, Service won't back down. Something strange is happening in his wilderness and the murder is only a symptom. But who would possibly have anything to gain? Service intends to find out.

What makes ICE HUNTER work is Service. Author Joseph Heywood has created a complex character with enough flaws to make him approachable, and enough weaknesses to make him endearing despite his pathological fear of women, commitment, dogs, and taking it easy.

What makes ICE HUNTER work is watching Service. While the plot is well constructed and interesting, it is simply the stage across wich Service acts. It will be interesting to see if Service can keep his edge in future novels as he overcomes his fear of both women and dogs. I'll look forward to finding out.

I can't add much to Mr. Nuss' review: I started to read this series as a fan of Steve Hamilton and really became facinated with the nature settings and the characterization. I do think Heywood is better at the capsulized characters than the more extended ones: I found the women in the book particularly elusive as believable characters--but I loved Limpy and Honeypat and Scaffidi, and all the exotic backwoods populace captured in this novel. And as a long-time watcher of Michigan's political and economic climate as well as the various iterations of the Department of Natural Resources, I felt very at home with the various political struggles which are so much a part of this book.

The Woods Cop series is a discovery I'm glad I made: I have the next installment ready and waiting to begin this afternoon.

I just read my first Joseph Heywood "Woods Cop" mystery; it may not be my last. Conservation Officer Grady Service is indeed dedicated to public service, protecting the resources, especially wildlife, of still rural Upper Peninsula (Yooper) Michigan, from various scumbags--and copping a fish or two for himself. I thought this might be like one of those Nevada Barr stories of Ranger Anna Pigeon, but it's not at all. The evocation of nature and atmosphere is close to nil, the prose and furnishments as bare as Service's camp room, he's a serious pretty humorless SOB, and his problems with a string of women is obviously his cold and inarticulate lack of commitment to all but passionately protecting a particular wild tract down by Escanaba. Grady (as in grating personality) is set up as not at all a sensitive hunk, but he is betrayed by author Heywood as Service develops a fondness, or rather, lust, for one of his new colleagues.

The title of the book rather gives away a major plot line...especially when you realize the story is set entirely in the early summer tourist season, far from November's deer season. The story is thus reduced to a "dogged" police procedural, or interest in which lady will get this man. I've rarely seen a heroine who is such an adolescent male's fantasy. At least the chase after the baddies takes you all over the central and western UP, with its colorful mishmash of nationalities and names, everyone bent on an independent life. Is the way to Grady's heart to buy off the governor?! Meanwhile, he has all the daily concerns of a cop on solo patrol, from ticketing poachers, detecting murders, assisting accident victims, dealing with a crazy-smart prison stoolie, to backing up domestic cases, all in a days work, eh. I'm afraid the prose is nothing special, and the proofreading missed a lot. It's the quirky characters and the budding love interest that might get me back to read the next book in the growing series.

Grady Service is a loner which extends back to his childhood days. His father was a conversation Officer who spent many hours away home which had Grady raising himself. When the bottle finally catches with his father and he dies on the job, Grady doesn't't shed a tear and heads off to Vietnam. Upon coming back
home a man who left as a boy, he decides to follow in his father's footsteps. Not because he wants to honor his father's memory but because he has love of the land that is close to idolization. As the winter snow melts and summer comes to this remote part of the country so do tourists and problems. Grady has a hard time following rules and obeying orders. You could even say he is a Type A personality in both his professional and personal life. As his beloved sanctuary is being invaded by people who are hell bent on destroying the pristine land for money he goes beyond the call of duty to save it. He does his everyday job of patrolling the area, writing tickets for minor violations and protecting wildlife. He also acts a detective
trying to solve a baffling case of why so many are interested in this lonely piece of land. The reader who has good deductive skills will figure out what everyone is hunting for and will even root for Grady to protect the land even though his actions are a little unorthodox. As for his personal life it is just as exciting. At the beginning of the book he thinks he wants to settle down and being a proper boyfriend when another old
flame won't let the fire go out he has a dilemma just as big as the problems plaguing his job. Heywood writes a realistic character that has many incidents happen on the job and shows the reader how this job is done in vivid dialogue. If you like Steve Hamilton C J Box or Nevada Barr or just like stories set in unique places with real characters this is a must read for you.

Enjoyable book, especially if you are interested in the wilds of life as a conservation officer.
Good descriptions of the area bring them to life. I will definitely read more from this author in the Woods Cop series.

Quick shiping. Book content is great. It all comes together in the end. Very good writer.Similar to Tony Hillerman. Being from Michigan helps, but not at all necessary. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.Very enjoyable. Thanks. CMS, Michigan

I rarely write reviews as I'm too busy reading but I feel Ice Hunter deserves a solid five stars. Heywood captures the independence and isolation of people living in the UP. There aren't enough books about the northern midwest and this is a great read. The author could give more examples of the harshness of the terrain and weather to better demonstrate the difficulties of living in the UP for those readers unfamiliar with the area. The plot is okay and is based on beliefs that exist in the UP. I highly recommend this book. I got it on a kindle ebook deal and now am stuck with paying much more to follow Grady Service in his other adventures. I will do so willingly.

I have enjoyed Wm Kent Kreugers books so Joeseph Heywoods book was a natural new series to begin . The outdoors aspect attracted me to his writing . He did an excellent job of keeping my interest. I will read more of his books !

Ice Hunter was the first novel in Joseph Heywood's series of Woods Cop mysteries. The series features Grady Service, a conservation officer who lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (the U.P.). Ice Hunter is a solid suspense novel, but Heywood sticks too close to the trails blazed by other suspense novelists for the novel to rate any better than three stars.

Heywood keeps the pages turning. Ice Hunter has an exotic setting in the U.P. and he brings that setting to life through detail. Heywood made me want to visit the area and try some of the meat pies that the locals call pasties. Also, there is enough sex, violence, inner turmoil, and other conflict to keep the reader engaged.

Why is Ice Hunter only mildly interesting? Heywood simply cannot avoid the clichés that make so many suspense novels so predictable. Service is the typical hero of these novels; he is an unmarried loner, who is big (6-4, 230 pounds), athletic (he could have played pro hockey - he just didn't want to do so), and served as a commando in Vietnam. Of course, Service works for an unsympathetic bureaucrat who doesn't share Service's passion for protecting the wilderness.

The plot of Ice Hunter is also flawed. Heywood makes the common mistake of making the plot so fantastic that it is completely unbelievable. Without going into all of the details, it involves a plan to loot the Upper Peninsula's ecosystem. The plan involves the Governor of Michigan, a criminal college professor, and an evil, wealthy family.

Ice Hunter is not a bad novel if one wants an escape from the real world. I enjoyed it, but I won't seek out any of the other novels in the series.