Rating: 
Summary: not as good as others but good
Review: I just finished reading this book & once I got near the ending I couldn't put it down. It did start out slow but because I knew that Ms. Barr's books always have wonderful endings I stayed with it. Once it got going it was great. The other books of hers I have read have been a little better in the beginning but it still was a good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun but the Anna Pigeon is an Idiot
Review: I like Nevada Barr's detective stories, partly because they combine a location in natural settings, an environmental ethic, and an old-fashioned detective novel. However, the author's efforts to make the story more exciting cause the main character, supposedly a trained law enforcement ranger, to do incredibly stupid things that would kill her in the real world. If you can get by the times Anna Pigeon blows every law enforcement commandment as well as common sense, the novel's fun to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Out of print for good reason
Review: I love Isle Royale and its shipwrecks. This book does not do them justice. Aside from that it was just plain bad. Maybe all mysteries are this bad - I don't know, I don't usually read them. I would rather drink some wine and get run over by a taxi.
Rating: 
Summary: Makes you want to get SCUBA certified--not
Review: I'll admit this doesn't get off to a whirlwind start, and I'll admit that I kept going in part because a smart friend recommended it and in part because I'm a sucker for eco-anything in genre fiction. But when it takes off, it takes off. Far and away the best bits of this one are the dive sequences on the very deep and very nasty Kamloops wreck off Isle Royale. They are, I do not exaggerate, phenomenally descriptive and visceral. You can read this in a laundromat that reeks of fabric softener, with dryers thumping and children squalling and smokers trying to poison you, and you're still alone two hundred feet under Lake Superior in the dark and cold. I've read these passages three times in the past two weeks, trying to figure out how she did it, even dreamed about them a couple of times, and not good dreams, either--I mean it, these sections are truly unnerving, especially the last, in which we find out how the murder was done. The only drawback is that I'm afraid the other Nevada Barr books can't possibly be this memorable, if only because I can't imagine a better setting; but I guess I'm going to have to find out.
Rating:
Summary: Isle Royale shines in this tale
Review: If place can be a protagonist in a book, this is an example. Barr once again transports the reader to a national park with the eyes of a ranger. This time we visit Isle Royale, in the middle of Lake Superior, a rocky place where transportation is by sea. (A deadly sea -- remember Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald???). It's worth looking up the park web site for a map. The humans in the book are plenty interesting also. Anna Pidgeon is a bit more multi-dimensional than in Track of the Cat. She has her flaws and a wicked little sense of humor is more evident. The characters on the island are solid and make for plenty of red herrings. The flaws in this story are minor. It takes a long time for the set-up and I began to wonder if we'd ever have a mystery. The ultimate solution is very original but how Anna makes the connections also left me shaking my head. Bottom line -- a solid mystery plot with an interesting education about Isle Royale and its unique environment.
Rating:
Summary: Wow, what a great storyteller!
Review: Nevada Barr can weave a mystery that will keep you up all night reading. Highly recommend!
Rating:
Summary: my favorite detective in my favorite national park
Review: nevada barr has done it again. her tale is believeable and kept me glued to the book until i was finished. she had an enviable job -getting to do research in all our national parks.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific suspense-laden fiction
Review: Nevada Barr has the knack for writing novels that are hard to put down. My wife bought me the first one, lost me until I finished it, and refuses to buy the rest. I have happily read up through and am currently reading Ill Wind.
The books all have the same highly-developed characters, hard-hitting human interest, and just the right touch that only a great fiction writer can acheive. Add Nevada Barr to your favorite author list.
Rating:
Summary: A superior book
Review: Nevada Barr is a wonderful author. She has a dry, subtle sense of humor which gives a very nice background for the story. She also includes you in the story as a participant instead of just an observer. For example, when describing scuba dives to wrecks in Lake Superior, she doesn't give a lecture on scuba diving, but you feel as though you totally understand the experience nonetheless. The mystery is also carefully woven so that, when the culprit is identified, you are surprised but realize that all of the clues were there. This is another fine book by a very fine author.
Rating:
Summary: Could it be a better book about da UP, eh?
Review: Once again the magical Nevada Barr takes us to a place where we can see and smell and taste and feel the world around us! As someone who lives on the shores of Lake Superior, I congratulate her for what I already knew was her sense of detail and place, and of respecting and loving something so much as to tell its story well.
This is an intriguing story, and Anna Pigeon becomes both more of an enigma and someone we count on.
Enjoy!
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