Track of the Cat

Rating:
Summary: yecch...
Review: I picked this book up because I was running out of decent mystery novels, and figured I was primed to love it given my obsession with the outdoors as well as mysteries.

It only gets two stars because I actually made it through.
And I only got through it because I had nothing else to read.


I know Nevada Barr is a "name," and judging by the number of her books stocked in my local bookstore, a popular one. But I could list the things that are wrong with her writing for...well, let's just say more space than Amazon is going to give me for this review. Her prose is bad. Her imagery is unlively (and if you're going to write about a landscape like Anna Pigeon's, you sure as hell ought to be able to write it). Her characters range from the merely flat to the utterly ridiculous (Anna's romantic progression through this book: "Oh, I am widowed and my life will never be the same without my husband" to "Oh, it might be fun to be a lesbian" [an out-of-the-blue idea the author never bothers to resolve] to "Let me have a fling with this random man, who, by the way, has as much character as a cardboard cut-out").

Worst of all, she cheats. I guess mystery writers don't have an official code, but according to the Dorothy L Sayers model, Thou Shalt Not Give the Detective Clues Not Given To The Reader. A mystery novel is no fun if the puzzle isn't there for you too. Of course, if Nevada Barr had given us all the evidence she gives Anna Pigeon, there wouldn't be a mystery to have a novel about. Her cheating merely covers up her inability to produce an engaging and puzzling plot.

This was a pathetically sub-par book for the amount of attention it and its sequels have received. If you're looking for an amazing female detective, check out Laurie R King's two series, one about Sherlock Holmes' feminist partner Mary Russell (as unlikely as it sounds, and more than good enough to make up for it), and the other about San Francisco cop Kate Martinelli. If you want a book about living in the desert, I'd suggest Edward Abbey's _Desert Solitaire_ (it even has a brief appearance by a dead body), or his hilarious eco-terrorist adventure _The Monkey Wrench Gang_.

Anything but this.

Rating:
Summary: Love going to National Parks-don't want to solve a murder
Review: I was attracted to this book because I am a Tony Hillerman fan and love visiting historic sites. She tells a good story that keeps me up half the night because I can't lay it down. I love the National park theme and the painting of the settings plus the gripping suspense.

Rating:
Summary: Off track with this Kitty
Review: I was tempted to toss this book into the trash after reading the first two paragraphs that pronounced God dead and the character Anna master, oh, excuse me, mistress of the earth. But then I begin to wonder just what kind of point was this author trying to make. I forced myself to trudge forward with the novel and found the story line and characters quite novel. But too many times shivers ran down my back as the author pronounced, through the heroine, Anna, her hatred of people, especially those who believe in God. How can anyone who cares so much for plants and animals wish for "an Old Testament God to visit the peak with one of His famous scourges: a lightning storm that would blast the rock clean of cloying humanity"...

Rating:
Summary: Off track with this Kitty
Review: I was tempted to toss this book into the trash after reading the first two paragraphs that pronounced God dead and the character Anna master, oh, excuse me, mistress of the earth. But then I begin to wonder just what kind of point was this author trying to make. I forced myself to trudge forward with the novel and found the story line and characters quite novel. But too many times shivers ran down my back as the author pronounced, through the heroine, Anna, her hatred of people, especially those who believe in God. How can anyone who cares so much for plants and animals wish for "an Old Testament God to visit the peak with one of His famous scourges: a lightning storm that would blast the rock clean of cloying humanity"...

Rating:
Summary: Love Anna !!
Review: I've read 5 Nevada Barr novels and really LOVE Anna A Lot.have sent Deep South to my sister and she is a new fan. I love the descriptions of the places she is in and relate to her unspoken thoughts all through each book. Please don't ever writing about Anna. Her adventures do what a good novel is suppossed to do..they take you away.....

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: If you have run out of Tony Hillerman books to read, you are not out of wonderful Southwestern mysteries. It's easy to see why Nevada Barr won the Agatha Award for best first mystery. Her unlikely heroine allows the readers to feel like they are helping solve the crime at her side. In addition to being a very good book in its own right, this book sets the stage for a fine series of mysteries.

Rating:
Summary: A different kind of mystery
Review: My mother of all people recommended this book to me and I must say that if my mother and I can both be pleased by a mystery novel then so can you. It does not take long to get hooked on Anna Pigeon and her life as a Law Enforcement Ranger. This is a mystery like I have never seen. Nevada Barr is excellent at bringing to life the vivid detail of the SW United States and uses it wonderfully to spin her mystery. A must read!!

Rating:
Summary: Good!
Review: Nevada Barr is really the first mystery writer I've ever looked at, and "The Track of the Cat" is the first book I've read of hers. It's very good, and maybe a little old now since it was published in 1994. However, the time of publication does not matter in this case, for I loved the stark description of the national park where Anna Pigeon works. I enjoy her relationship with her psychologist sister who still lives in New York, and the unravelling mysteries surrounding the death of fellow ranger Sheila Drury and the disappearance of another male ranger. Unfortunately, the copy I had might have been missing some pages right near the end, so I don't know if I went through the entire story. Once again, read this and be enthralled with Nevada Barr's debut novel!

Rating:
Summary: Good!
Review: Nevada Barr is really the first mystery writer I've ever looked at, and "The Track of the Cat" is the first book I've read of hers. It's very good, and maybe a little old now since it was published in 1994. However, the time of publication does not matter in this case, for I loved the stark description of the national park where Anna Pigeon works. I enjoy her relationship with her psychologist sister who still lives in New York, and the unravelling mysteries surrounding the death of fellow ranger Sheila Drury and the disappearance of another male ranger. Unfortunately, the copy I had might have been missing some pages right near the end, so I don't know if I went through the entire story. Once again, read this and be enthralled with Nevada Barr's debut novel!

Rating:
Summary: I never saw it coming...
Review: She got me again. I can never figure out who the bad guy is! This is a great book and I highly recommend it.