Rating: 
Summary: Trapped in a Flashback!
Review: Nevada Barr's primary character Ranger Anna Pigeon has always been neurotic. Some times more than other times and in the last several novels she seemed to finally be just a bit less annoyingly neurotic. Unfortunately, for most of this book, Anna is neurotic and stuck in the past in more ways than one.As the book opens, Anna is temporarily supervising Fort Jefferson, on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park off of Key West. The last supervisor of the park seems to have had a mental breakdown and is off on the mainland getting treatment after seeing ghosts and whatnot flitting around the fort. Anna has gone about as far as she can go in the Park Service to escape her own demons that haunt her by accepting this posting. She has taken the assignment so that she has time to think about a marriage proposal from Paul. Paul is still a minister, now recently divorced, and wants desperately to marry Anna. But he knows that her answer to pressure is to run as far as she can as fast as she can and has vowed to give her the time she needs to think about his offer. While she does love him, she isn't sure she is ready to once again try marriage as has been made abundantly clear several times in earlier books in this series. Those issues remain for Anna and with little else to occupy her mind, she begins to think that she understands why the previous Supervisor went mad. Supervising a skeleton staff and very few visitors, Anna begins to look for something to occupy her mind instead of thinking about her life. Her sister Molly has sent to Anna to read a large packet of letters that were written to Anna's great grandmother, Peggy, from her sister Raffia who was married to a Captain station at the Fort shortly at the end of the Civil War. That same time saw the arrival of Dr. Samuel Mudd and Samuel Arnold after they were sentenced to prison time for their roles in the Lincoln assassination. Both men denied involvement. Through a series of flashbacks in letter form, Anna begins to read of the heartbreak and struggle went through by Raffia during that time period. While that mystery occupies her mind, a modern day mystery involving mysterious boats at night and the near death of a Park Ranger occupies her waking thoughts. The stresses along with a series of other problems begin to take their toll on Anna and what is left of the skeleton staff. As she tries to figure out the present problems, the past continues to occupy more and more of her mental thoughts and before long; the veil between fantasy and reality for Anna becomes almost non-existent. Is she losing her mind or is she having help to crack and if so why? Anna is at her most annoyingly neurotic during the first half of this four hundred page slow read which is something considering this is the tenth novel of the series. As she slowly loses her mind thanks to a plot device that is amazingly telegraphed like a neon sign, she sees ghosts and various apparitions. One is reminded of the many times James Lee Burke has used this same technique to great effect by way of his command of language and Nevada Barr does not come close in pulling the same effect. Once she begins to regain her sanity and work the modern day case as well as the puzzle from the past, this novel improves tremendously. It ceases to wallow in the past on so many levels and instead moves forward steadily and with purpose. The story begins to take of with plenty of action and the many plot twists that have hallmarked her earlier work. But, one has to get through the first two hundred pages that are both literally and figuratively a "flashback" on many levels. It is ultimately worth the effort to read this book, but it is not Nevada Barr at her best. One hopes with several issues resolved apparently at the conclusion of this novel, Nevada Barr might once again bring back the Anna who was so good in her first book, Track of the Cat.
Rating: 
Summary: A definite winner!
Review: No doubt about it, the man can simply write! This was a great story, with great characters, and a great plot! Highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: A favorite author wanders off the track...
Review: Other reviewers have also mentioned two things that flaw this book for me. First, the device of cutting back and forth between two different plots, present and past, has been used so much lately it's already tired. In this book, rather than introducing suspense, it was just irritating. Every chapter a cliffhanger, wow. Second, the chapters that are supposed to be letters from Raffia are too literary, long and detailed for letters. More like Raffia was trying her hand at writing a bodice-ripper melodrama in her spare time.
Rating:
Summary: Page-turning Mystery
Review: Park ranger Anna Pigeon returns once again, as she flees a marriage proposal from Sheriff Paul Davidson to take a temporary assignment as a supervisory ranger at Dry Tortugas National Park on Garden Key, one of the multiple Floridian islands off the Florida mainland. With the disappearance of fellow ranger, Bob Shaw, one evening, an ocean search with the team of Anna, Bob's wife Teddy, maintenance men Daniel and Mack, and boaters Cliff and Linda leads to a new discovery. On the ocean's floor is a recently exploded boat, and amongst the wreckage are Bob's shoes and pieces of his patrol boat. As the team continues to search for Bob amidst dangerous underwater conditions, new questions arise in Anna's mind as to the sunken boat's expedition. While each present day chapter ends with a cliffhanger, the alternate chapters offer mystery as well with their focus on letters written by one of Anna's ancestors. Anna's sister Molly has sent her letters that were written to their great-great grandmother from her sister, Raffia, whose husband Joseph was a Union Army captain at Fort Jefferson, on Tortugas, when the Fort housed Union prisoners. Raffia and her teen-aged sister Tilly's aid to a Confederate prisoner led them to become acquainted with the infamous Dr. Mudd, convicted of aiding John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Lincoln. With the insufferable Florida heat and fear of possible prison uprising, Raffia's letters result in a mystery of their own, which Anna feels compelled to solve. Ms. Barr vividly brings to life the surrounds of Garden Key, both in present day and in its past as a Civil War era prison. With twists and turns around every bend, the reader is led on a white-knuckle ride echoing the ghosts of bygone days as well as their impact on the world of the twenty-first century. Nevada Barr is certain to engender new fans of her Anna Pigeon novels with this latest page-turner. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
Rating: 
Summary: Flash--I want my money--back
Review: The reading was tedious and the forced metaphors were annoying; ex., her fingers were like white spiders. The book was loaded with these stupid metaphors. Was this really a bestseller? Golly jeez.
Rating:
Summary: Good but descriptive writing is a little too much
Review: This book has 2 good interweaving stories. The one that takes place during the Civil War era is the most interesting. But I almost stopped reading it when I hit pages 114-115 znd tried to make sense out of 2 sentences. On page 114 the sentence "Unfortunately stillness without exacerbated restlessness within." And on page 115 "A wave of emotion so strong it wrung a flood of tears from eyes dry an instant before overcame her." Huh? Generally, I have always enjoyed Nevada Barrs books, but also always thought her writing was a little too descriptive. But the above examples are beyond descriptive. I did pick it up again and finished it because of the Civil War story.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad, very bad! (Good for Insomniacs!)
Review: This was painful, both my Wife and I are fans of the 'Anna Pigeon' series, so I thought to get the un-abridged CD for a trip across country, what a mistake! My God, this was dull, boring, and silly. How did I stay awake listening to this while driving, and why did my wife not shoot me for buying this, I just don't know?
Rating: 
Summary: SPELLBINDING LISTENING
Review: Versatile voice performer Joyce Bean gives eloquent and exciting reading to the latest from New York Times best selling author Nevada Barr.
"Flashback" is the eleventh in Barr's highly popular mystery series featuring Park Ranger Anna Pigeon. With a marriage proposal from Sheriff Paul Davidson still ringing in her ears Anna escapes by signing on as a temporary supervisory ranger on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park. This is the site of Fort Jefferson, a Union prison during the Civil War. Anna's predecessor fell victim to some mind altering experiences in this area and was quickly dispatched to a safe haven. Anna finds equally challenging threats as her life is repeatedly jeopardized. Barr skillfully weaves two stories - the contemporary predicament of Anna and that of a supposed Lincoln assassination plot. Spellbinding listening! - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: SPELLBINDING LISTENING
Review: Versatile voice performer Joyce Bean gives eloquent and exciting reading to the latest from New York Times best selling author Nevada Barr.
"Flashback" is the eleventh in Barr's highly popular mystery series featuring Park Ranger Anna Pigeon. With a marriage proposal from Sheriff Paul Davidson still ringing in her ears Anna escapes by signing on as a temporary supervisory ranger on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park. This is the site of Fort Jefferson, a Union prison during the Civil War. Anna's predecessor fell victim to some mind altering experiences in this area and was quickly dispatched to a safe haven. Anna finds equally challenging threats as her life is repeatedly jeopardized. Barr skillfully weaves two stories - the contemporary predicament of Anna and that of a supposed Lincoln assassination plot. Spellbinding listening! - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: Too much Flashback
Review: What a disappointment. I wait anxiously for a new Nevada Barr book, and was excited to receive Flashback. I was ready to follow Anna Pigeon's life.... her new assignment, her future romance, the happenings with Molly and her husband, but instead I was detoured through an historical novel which was clumsily and unbelievably presented as a bundle of letters written long ago. The coincidences I found to be too much, and the device of skipping back and forth was annoying to say the least, slowing down the development of each story. The Anna part of the book was fine, cleverly developed as always with clues for the astute reader (not me!) to pick up in order to solve the mystery. Please skip the history, Nevada, and keep giving us more of Anna. PS Is it Ne-vay-da or Ne-var-da?
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