Customer Reviews

Winter Study (Anna Pigeon Series)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Nevada Barr's NPS Ranger, Anna Pigeon, is a strong and brave woman. She treks through various wildernesses, descends into bottomless caves, fights fires, saves children, both human and lupine. She's the only character I've ever known who actually employs the self-defense strategy most women can't stomach - gouging out an attacker's eyes. She has taken an ax to the head of a man. But Anna isn't a walking instrument of destruction. She loves nature, loves the wild and celebrates it knowledgably. She loves her sister, Molly, her pets, her friends in various parks, her new husband. In all of Barr's books we spend so much time in Anna's head that first-person narration would be redundant, but that's OK. Anna's head is a good place to be. I admire her. Even though she rarely looks beyond the parameters of the task at hand, she is able to go out and do what needs to be done in her world. She sustains many injuries, but she survives and triumphs, a middle-aged argument for mind over matter. She's not a super-hero, nor would I wish her to be. A bit more imaginative than Kinsey Milhone, less careless than V.I. Warshawski, Anna is a solid character who has evolved through a carefully crafted and amazingly consistent series.

In this novel, Barr takes us back to the scene of the second book in her series, Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Rather than the deep-diving of that adventure, we have frozen treks across the island, a terrain less dramatic, if no less deadly, than the amazing spaces of Yosemite, the setting for High Country. That book was the previous holder of the series' Most-Violent-Action Award, but Winter Study surpasses it with a blend of atavistic terror and human malice that's hard to read. The natural threats are so terrifyingly described and the human perversion is so graphically portrayed that, several times, I had to put the book down and walk away. I just finished it and my neck and shoulders are stiffly painful from the tension.

While that's a visceral tribute to Barr's talent as a writer, I'm not planning to re-read the novel. The wildness of the wolves and the beauty of the island are as vividly described as the terror and the dark deeds, but the latter cast shadows that are too heavy for pleasure reading. If you like the dark side, you may disagree, but I'd advise reading this fast - airplane (or airport) style. It's not a book to savor; it's a book to finish quickly, in the daylight.

Nevada Barr's latest national park mystery is set in Isle Royal, a remote island off the coast of Michigan. Her heroine, Anna Pigeon, has been sent from her assignment at Rocky Mountain National Park to Isle Royal to observe a 50-year-old study on wolves in order to prepare her for managing wolves at her home park in Colorado. Barr does a great job of evoking the cold, barren wilderness of an Isle Royal winter with very few amenities for its inhabitants. As a reader, I felt every windchill and heard every wolf call in the book. Her characters, many of them thoroughly unlikeable, are drawn with a careful eye to detail and believability. Each one is motivated by a powerful force, whether it be personal or professional. Anna herself is roughed up more often than is necessary and the repeated scenes of her narrow escapes begin to lose effectiveness after awhile. Despite this flaw and the darkness mentioned by other reviewers, this book should please Nevada Barr's many fans.

Up to now, I have read Nevada Barr's books practically savoring every word. I have travelled to many National Parks and so I have enjoyed her descriptive settings and the associated mysteries she has placed in the numerous parks. I have usually felt like I was right there in the middle of the action - (gee, I couldn't read and get out of the caves in Blind Descent fast enough, they felt so real!)
But this book seemed like it was written for a different purpose altogether. I never felt a true sense of Isle Royale National Park. (Superior Death was much better at that.) I never felt a connection with the action or characters - they seemed to be one-dimensional, where usually Nevada Barr has such depth to her characetrs. I even skimmed the middle 170 pages and still got the whole story that she had there.
This could have been a much shorter novel for the story she was telling here. (It could have been the same length if she had gone into better depth of action and character).
The covert agenda wasn't necessary either. When I got to the first part of it, I almost stopped right there. It would have been the first novel of hers I hadn't finished.
I have always waited for each new novel in high anticipation. She needs to go back to what worked. Very disappointing.

District Ranger Anna Pigeon of Rocky Mountains National Park is going to have wolves in the park; to know what to expect she is sent to Isle Royale in Lake Superior where scientists have been studying the wolves in their natural habitat for fifty years. They can work without tourists around as the park is closed for several moths due to dangerous weather. Homeland Security would like the park opened year round as it is on the Canadian border; they send Bob Menchinn to determine the feasibility.

Strange things are happening on the isolated island beginning with Anna's first night there. A group of seven wolves walk by the cabin where Anna and the winter study group resides. This anomaly shakes everyone as wolves normally avoid humans. Anna sees a giant wolf almost twice the size of a normal sized wolf and humongous paw prints. They think it is a wolf/dog hybrid and soon afterward an assistant is mauled to death by the wolves, which have no reported history of assaulting humans. The words "help me" appear on an ice coated window. Anna knows something is wrong and begins investigating just before another scientist disappears in what looks like a kidnapping; making her inquiries even more urgent.

A new Anna Pigeon mystery is a treat for fans of the series who expect the best from Nevada Barr and gets it with this strong "closed door" whodunit in a wintry outdoors setting. As Anna digs into the lives of the scientists and their aides, she uncovers dark secrets and blackmail, hidden agendas and ties to a cold (pun intended) case. Readers will enjoy armchair trekking with Anna as she seeks the truth allegedly of a killer wolf stalking humans.

Harriet Klausner

Having loved most of the previous Anna Pigeon mysteries, I found myself bitterly disappointed by this latest offering. Gone were the beautiful descriptions and "insider" looks at a great National Park. Instead we got a violent, claustophobic, unrealistic potboiler. Nevada Barr goes for the easy shock and horror. The characters were completely unsympathetic and badly drawn. Poor Anna Pigeon is so throughly abused in the course of this story that she should have died or been hospitalized several times over--instead she carries on and finally delivers vigilante justice in the most improabable way. It is apparent that Barr hates this character and has run out of ideas. Don't waste your time or money on this book.

This represented my first Nevada Barr novel and I found it fast-paced and enjoyable to read. The kids and my husband and I just got back from a trip along the Minnesota shore-line of Lake Superior, including taking a boat out to Isle Royale . (Does anyone else feel that Isle Royale obviously correctly ought to be part of Minnesota? It's far closer to Minnesota geographically, topographically, and distance-wise than it is to Michigan.) I got the book from the University library where I work thinking it would be an apt read for our trip. My husband read it first (he's more of a mystery/suspense buff than I) and then I read it. I really found that I could hardly put it down as it just moved along and drew me in, beautifully creating a creepy atmosphere and on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense. Bravo for that!

On the con side however, there were some errors that were highly annoying. Early on, mention is made of the boatloads of visitors who arrive daily from Grand Marais, MN. Au contraire, the commercial Minnesota boat tours depart from Grand Portage, NOT Grand Marais. In the description of the unfortunate researcher who is brutally savaged and whose ankle is broken, Anna talks about a compound fracture of the femur. The femur is the large thigh bone, not a bone in the ankle. Near the end of the book Anna's shoulder is dislocated, but in the initial description of the event it is mentioned that she felt her ulna pull loose. The ulna is one of the two bones in the lower arm--I'm guessing Ms. Barr meant the humerus, the long bone that runs from shoulder to elbow. These are minor errors, but are more than mere typos. They distract from the novel and can make a reader lose respect for the writer. Doing your research means not making errors of this sort that feel hasty or lacking in smarts.

Also, as a few other reviewers have noted, the story didn't hold together as well as it might've as it drew to an end. I felt a little let down as some of the details (distance of hikes or ski excursions, recovery time from significant physical hardships) were unrealistic and the denouement was a bit of a stretch.

In all, though Winter Study wasn't a "great" novel, this was an enjoyable read and I looked forward each day to the evening when I could pick up the book and get engrossed in the spooky excitement.

I have been a dedicated fan of Nevada Barr's books in part because I like the story and in part because I like her descriptions of the National Parks and nature in general. I liked the story told here and I enjoyed her descriptions of the wolf study. As always I enjoyed Anna's wry comments. But common on, you have to have a somewhat realistic ending. A woman can only be knocked down so may times, especially in minus 17 degree weather and still get up.

I've read all of the Anna Pigeon series. The last two books, Winter Study and Hard Truth, haven't been as good as the others. I've been looking forward to this book for 2 years. It was delayed because of H.Katrina. Sadly, the book was just ok. I found myself skimming at times. Glad I checked it out from the library.

I lasted thru the first 100 pages on faith alone. It almost seemed like someone else wrote the first half of the book. Anyways, the book is dark and gruesome at times. I missed the interactions between Anna and her new hubby and between Anna and her sister Mollie. The pace picks up about 200 pages in and starts to resemble Nevada Barr's voice.

If you're an avid Anna Pigeon fan, you will read it regardless of what I write. But, if this is your first Anna Pigeon book, skip Winter Study and read Track of the Cat instead.

I am an avid Nevada Barr fan and have read all her published books to date. After waiting patiently for its release, "Winter Study" is a real disappointment, especially when compared to "Flashback", "Deep South", or her particularly well written "Bittersweet".

I had the sense of being "trapped" by limitations of the subject matter and setting: a study of wolves on an isolated and ice-bound island with a small handful of suspicious characters sharing a bunkhouse. Anna's formula for getting into serious trouble twice during the story -- once in the middle and once at the end -- has become predictable. Missing are the insightful and amusing telephone conversations with her sister Mollie, which usually help to give the characters and story depth and allow us to relate better to them. The wolves themselves could have offered more interest. The premise is just too far-fetched and many of the predicaments, including the ending, are just too drawn out. I found it very difficult to connect to the story or the characters.

If the release of this book was delayed because of the effects of Katrina, then I suggest that New Orleans and the hurricane might have provided far better material for a more interesting and engaging story.

Can't say that I'm a big Nevada Barr fan. I've read a couple of her books, (High Country and Ill Wind) but just didn't find anything that tripped my triggers.

I tried the new book because it sounded interesting. Scientists studying wolves, isolated on an island in the middle of Lake Superior, discover DNA evidence of what might be a hybrid wolf/dog. It's the middle of winter and cold permeates everything and everyone. When one of the team is brutally killed, all evidence points to the wild hybrid.

The story is number 14 in a series about Anna Pigeon, a tougher-than-nails park ranger who regularly finds herself in the middle of a crisis - think Jessica Fletcher of "Murder, She Wrote" set outdoors.

The story bogs down with too many red herrings and ancillary sub-plots. I guessed the villain early on, not because I'm clever, but because the author eliminates everyone else from the suspect list.

When the story lines converge and Anna finally faces the bad guy, the author spends 49 pages drawing out the action. Frankly, it was about 39 pages too long. I knew Anna would win because she's the good guy, but I didn't really care how it played out. I just wanted it to be over.