High Country (Anna Pigeon Novels (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic book, great suspense, as gritty as it gets....
Review: Nevada Barr is one of the best writers around, and High Country is a testament to her skills as a writer in general and a mystery writer in particular. I've found writing as skilled and as beautiful in the works of James Lee Burke, but this novel awes me in that its grittiness equals if not surpasses Burke's. Toughen up your stomach before you read this one, maybe keep a bottle of Mylanta handy.
Anna Pigeon undercover as a not-so-good waitress adds a pleasant twist to the plot, allowing her the room to maneuver where no park ranger can go, and without the comfort of backup. This one's a chiller right to the end.

Rating:
Summary: ONE HELL OF A HIKE
Review: And high in more ways than one. My mother has been recommending Nevada Barr books to me, especially this one since the story takes place in Yosemite National Park. About half way through, when Anna Pigeon, the NPS's spy, begins to turn up some leads as to why four young people have disappeared presumably in the back country, I started reading High Country as if it were a John Grisham novel. Couldn't put it down, devoured it in 24 hours. Loved it. My mother always gives me good books to read, I'm telling you.

Rating:
Summary: A book of suspense, amid the beauty and danger of nature
Review: Anna Pigeon is an experienced National Park Ranger, who goes in undercover in Yosemite Park. As a waitress, she listens to gossip trying to discover the fate of four disappeared young people; occurrence which so far evaded normal investigation.

It doesn't take long to find several people acting suspiciously. Devoid of normal police methods, Anna heads into wilderness. But both human malice and the winter in high country prove a deadly danger.

Anna is a strong, appealing character. In her late forties, and small of stature, she has to use her wits and toughness to hold her own with villains. But her own doubts sometimes prove a canny enemy.

Vivid in its description of nature, and with the usual danger and injuries to Anna, the novel is similar to the others in the series. But while not breaking new ground, this mystery remains a suitable companion to other books in this satisfying, and frequently tense series.

--inotherworlds.com

Rating:
Summary: Exciting Confrontation Is Surrounded by a Plodding Plot
Review: Can you imagine Anna Pigeon as an undercover agent using a cover as a waitress at the swank Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite? Having stayed at and dined in the hotel's restaurant in the past, I was hooked. When I opened the book and saw a map of Yosemite, I thought, Wow! Is this going to be great or what?

Four young employees have turned up missing from their dwellings, and the park service has no clues. Anna is brought in chat up the other employees to find out what might have happened to them. Her entry isn't as smooth as it could have been. The chef and the head of the wait staff don't seem too enthralled with Anna getting such a plum job when she obviously isn't a very good waitress. She's bunking with some very young women who are young enough to be her daughters, which limits her interaction possibilities with them. But soon, bizarre people and events start to build up, and clearly the chase is on. The action builds to an exciting climax as Anna unravels the central element of the mystery. This section of the book is a definite five-star effort. But the book slows down from there and moseys on to a predictable ending.

The book has little character development in it to help you enjoy the story more. So the action elements are what drive the story's appeal. And there just aren't enough of those elements.

Parts of the plot are very implausible and almost reminded me of a satire of every gruesome Halloween movie you've ever seen. So take all of those as a sort of campy humor if you want to enjoy the book more.

Fans of Anna Pigeon novels should definitely read the book, but don't expect to find this one to be one of your favorites in this excellent series.

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Rating:
Summary: Nevada Barr Is At The Top Of Her Form
Review: Long time fans of Nevada Barr and her leading lady Anna know to strap themselves in, block out some time, and enjoy the ride. Nevada, thru Anna, always takes us on a behind-the-scenes trip to America's premier National Parks, both discovered and un-discovered gems.
An intriguing mystery always awaits, and we meet a cast of characters, some new, some old who move the story along at a comfortable pace.
Naysayers can always find fault with plot elements or gaps in Anna's judgement, but they miss the point of the story. Its a journey of enjoyment and discovery. Always interesting, rarely predictable, and enhancing the view of our jointly owned back counrty.
In my opinion, "High Country" ranks up with the best of Nevada Barr's books. I won't rehash plot details here - others have done that admirably.
I'll admit a few of Anna's previous adventures have required the reader to make a leap of faith to cross a believability gap in the plot (noteably "Ill Wind"). I found none of these in "High Country". I swallowed every word with nary a grain of salt.
All Nevada Barr's storys are worty of our time, and do what we wish - take us on a great trek with our good friend Anna to root out evil-doers within the beauty of our National Parks.
Go Anna!
Go Nevada!


Rating:
Summary: Low Country, Maybe
Review: This book is just plain awful. I love Yosemite and my son works at the Ahwahnee restaurant, so I bought this book hoping for a connection to the story. What a waste of time. I am not even sure Ms. Barr has been to Yosemite. Her descriptions of the park were so generic they could have come right out of Fodors.
There is nothing compelling about this story, the characters are cardboard cut-outs, Anna Pigeon herself is distracting the way she continually has little mental asides that have nothing to do with the story. If this book is indicative of the rest of the Anna Pigeon series then the praise I have been reading in other reviews is misplaced.
Nevada Barr missed some wonderful opportunities to include all of the truly majestic features of Yosemite in her story and instead we get drivel. What a disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: Cliffhanger, Anna Pigeon Style
Review: This book was the third re-telling of the crash of a smuggler's marijuana-filled airplane that came down in the Yosemite backcountry in 1977, and it makes for one of the weakest Anna Pigeon mysteries in years. This same story was also the basis for the movie "Cliffhanger" with Sylvester Stallone and John Lithgow, and I have to admit I liked the Stallone version better. There are hundreds of younger women in the enforcement ranks of the National Park Service, and the use of a 50-year-old district ranger in an undercover role, particularly in one of the busiest parks in the country just never hit home with me. The NPS has it's own criminal investigators for that kind of duty. As I said, the plot-line was stale, since it has been used repeatedly since the actual event happened years ago. Plotlines involving the chief ranger being shipped off to Montana, and Mary, the young woman who Anna takes into her confidence, are never finished, nor do we ever find out if the guy who almost kills Anna is dead or alive. I have read all of this series, and this (and the NYC one) are the two I enjoyed least.

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable action story, not Barr's best
Review: This is certainly not the best Nevada Barr book out there. In fact, it's in the running for the worst one, but I have others yet to read. The characters are thin and the plot predictable.

This is not a book for mystery lovers, though if you like action-adventure movies the final third of the book is for you. Like the movies, though, the events were unbelievable and the heroine should have been dead several times over. Even so, I kept reading, which is how this book squeezed out that second star.

I was also surprised that Barr seems to dislike Yosemite so much. Even more puzzling, she keeps praising the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is not exactly a crown jewel of the national park system. To each her own, I guess.


Rating:
Summary: Anna Pigeon goes to my home park!
Review: This mystery of Nevada Barr's is slightly different then her other ones, but no less intriguing. Anna gets sent into Yosemite National Park in California, which in the winter is a bit less crowded but still packed enough with live-ins and visitors to constitute a small town. And like a small town, something bordering on disasterous has happened. Four young, bright, capable adults have gone disappearing at the same time, and enough time has elapsed to indicate they are mostly dead.

Anna comes in as a waitress in one of the nicer lodges, and infiltrates the young group who works there, trying to find out what possibly happened to these kids. Less on any given information by those she comes in contact with except for the elusive comment that 'there is gold in them there hills...' Anna goes for a walk to clear her mind and spot a 'flat' lake. My husband who is a member of a search and rescue team would tell you one of the first rules is to always let someone know where you are going to be. Anna doesn't obey this rule of the wild and walks into a situation which nearly gets her killed. It also makes her very mad, and like me, making Anna mad is not such a smart idea!

My only complaints about this book is that an experienced ranger would disregard one of the major rules of outdoor living...I know we have to suspend disbelief a bit, but this is a bit too much.

Other than that, loved reading about the park I grew up in, where my father as an engineer installed water tanks for dry seasons and took me with him in the middle of the winter when you could see mountain lion tracks all over the place. Yosemite was and continues to be a cool place...hope we can prevent Bush from ruining it and other national treasures like it!

Karen Sadler

Rating:
Summary: The Wild Outdoors
Review: This mystery of Nevada Barr's offers up a much better mystrey and story than the lack less Hunting Season. Ms. Barr takes a different approach with this one. Anna Pigeon is still the main character but instead of being in the role of a ranger, she is undercover as a waitress. Anna is sent into Yosemite National Park in California, in the winter following the disapperance of four young people. Anna makes a lousy waitress and is taken back when this is pointed out to her. But she still has the ability to find danager. Tired of her messy room mate and needing some space, she takes a day hike. Of course, her being the very independent Anna she lets no one know. After making a discovery that puts many of the pieces into place and her life in danger. She finds herself trying to stay alive while hiking out of the High Country at night. This is my only complaint with the book. Anna beats impossible odds, I know that as a reader we are to overlook BUT this is pushed to the extreme in High Country. After she survives as well as her attacker whom also is of super human abilities, the danager continues.

Anna must solve ALL "evil in Yoemite National Park, before it is consumed." This is done in typical Anna style, leading the reader along.