Rating: 
Summary: A troubling tale...
Review: The latest Alaska tale of Stabenow lives up to all I expect of this talented writer. The buildup to the crushing ending is powerful--and I read it again to understand. Having read all the earlier novels, I expected a "happy ending." Characters from her other novels (George Perry, for one, with his plane)contributed to the anticipated comfortable "read." The tragic ending left me stunned--and looking forward to the next novel. From the other reviews, it appears I am not the only reader who accepted Kate as a real person! Quite an accomplishment for Ms Stabenow!
Rating:
Summary: Best of the series
Review: This book, without question, is the best of the Kate Shugach series. It is, however, the one most likely to upset devotees. I was lucky enough to be in a small town in south central Alaska last year when Stabenow was appearing at a library fundraiser. Time and time again, she was asked why she did it (read the book to find out to what I'm referring, no spoilers here), why she wrote it that way. Stabenow answered that she didn't set out for it to happen, the plot just naturally flowed in that direction. She's absolutely right. It's what the series needed and served to advance the primary character. This book is a solid mystery, set in an exceptionally interesting setting, and populated by characters that kept my attention. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the series
Review: This book, without question, is the best of the Kate Shugach series. It is, however, the one most likely to upset devotees. I was lucky enough to be in a small town in south central Alaska last year when Stabenow was appearing at a library fundraiser. Time and time again, she was asked why she did it (read the book to find out to what I'm referring, no spoilers here), why she wrote it that way. Stabenow answered that she didn't set out for it to happen, the plot just naturally flowed in that direction. She's absolutely right. It's what the series needed and served to advance the primary character. This book is a solid mystery, set in an exceptionally interesting setting, and populated by characters that kept my attention. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Her Best But A Good Read
Review: Though this wasn't my favorite Kate Sugak mystery, it was still agood read. Nothing sugar coated in this one! When Kate gets going,using her wits and her knowledge of the land and human nature, it'sdifficult to stop reading....
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE This Book! And Cried For Hours........
Review: Was just introduced to the works of this author a week ago. Since that time I have read the Kate Shugak series from the beginning. Have to say that it has been quite some time since I have read a mystery series with a female lead that affected me like this one has. I recommend this series highly and only add that you should start at the beginning and work your way up to this book. The characters seem to step right off the pages of this series. I can close my eyes and see Kate, Jack and Bobby like they were right in front of me. Am taking a few hours off before I crack open the latest "Midnight Come Again". Might be because I have to gather up all the tissues I used up while reading this book! :) Dana,,,,, You Did GOOD!
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting but disappointing and, on some levels, shocking
Review: Well, all the other reviews here have revealed that Jack is killed in the course of the book. Why don't they just reveal the identities of the killers, too? And by the way, Norman Bates is the killer in PSYCHO. My problems with the book >begin< with Jack's death. It doesn't feel like an event that grew out of the background of the book, but an arbitrary decision on the part of Stabenow to finish the relationship without having to actually, you know, DEAL with the idea of Kate and Jack getting married. It's cheap, obvious solution to a problem that a more imaginative writer would have dealt with in a less contrived, painful-to-the-reader way. But beyond that: the gays in the book are depicted as sniveling, pathetic weaklings, worthy of no respect as human beings. Kate shows a certain cold pity over the body of one of them, but the relationship between the two men is otherwise depicted as a joke. You'd never catch one of Stabenow's Alaskan supermen being gay. Every single German in the book is painted as either contemptible or a brute (or both). What next? Slant-eyed, shifty Japanese? Everyone who likes "highbrow" stuff like opera is regarded as a pretentious clown; Kate's destruction of a boom box merely because it's playing music she doesn't like is seen as a hilarious act, instead of self-indulgent vandalism. Everyone who likes "real" music, such as Jimmy Buffett, is on the side of the angels. As usual in the Kate Shugak series, everyone from INSIDE Alaska -- except for the loony in the bush -- is depicted as being more right, stronger, braver, smarter and, in every way possible, BETTER than anyone from OUTSIDE Alaska. Fortunately this time, Stabenow doesn't try to write "funny" -- she's terrible at it. She IS very good at page-turning action and cliff-hanging suspense, even if her descriptions of movement are often hard to follow. Kate remains a basically one-dimensional character who'd probably loathe most of her readers on sight, but the setting is interesting and unusual, and Stabenow has wisely changed the background frequently. We get Kate the detective, Kate the fisher, Kate the oil company worker, etc. I'll give her one more book, but I suspect I'm nearing my own personal conclusion to the Shugak series, one that began with real promise and has trailed off in a cloud of personal prejudices (even bigotry), simplistic characterization and awkward plotting.
Rating:
Summary: Ship Trap Island in the Alaska Bush
Review: What begins as a hunt for Kate and a group of German Executives ends in death. Kate agrees to guide a moose/beer hunt in the Alaska Bush for her friend George. The guides include Jack Morgan, Dimitri, Old Sam and George. They will be responsible for taking a CEO of a German software company and his top executives into the Bush for a real Alaskan Adventure. Tension builds immidiately between Kate and the CEO. The hunt begins to fall apart when one of the members is accidently shot. Shortly after more murders take place and a consipiracy is uncovered. The plot was action packed and is a real "tape turner." Kate is spunky and displays a great wit. The book has some laugh out loud part - the joke about the bear in the woods is answered in full color. Though there are some fun parts, they are short lived - kleenex are a must! Kate proves to be a character with a conscious even when the world deals her tragedy. The tape was well read and I couldn't wait to get in my car to hear what happened next!
Rating:
Summary: Hunter's Moon
Review: What is it with women mystery writers these last fews years? Have they collectively gone on a man-hating binge? Patricia Cornwell killed off Kay's lover; Sharyn McCrumb killed off Elizabeth's husband; now Dana Stabenow has killed of Kate's lover! Why can't anyone just break up anymore? If you like Jack, don't read this darned book. This series is so wonderful and I'm very sad to be forced to stop reading it. I only wish I'd stopped with The Killing Grounds. My advice: read the series, but after you finish The Killing Grounds, pretend Ms. Stabenow decided to give up writing to compete in the Iditarod and that there are no more Kate Shugak novels.
Rating:
Summary: Soap-opera twists, pointless violence, unworthy of Stabenow
Review: While this is some of Ms. Stabenow's best word handling yet, theplotting falls far short. Instead of the motivational complexity andsubtle clues we've come to expect, "Hunter's Moon" moveslike an Arnold Swartzenegger movie, and a bad one. Suspense comesonly from wondering what body part will be blown off of whom next. Addto that a soap-opera Harlequin-Romance twist to Kate and Jack'srelationship.... and feats of physical and emotionalstamina requiring the reader's willing suspension of disbelief, andyou have a good crop of crude and obvious plot devices unworthy of awriter of Stabenow's talent. After this, I doubt I'll pick up anotherKate Shugak book (if one is forthcoming) -- or a Liam Campbell one,for that matter.
Rating:
Summary: Action Without the Stereotypes
Review: With "Hunter's Moon" Dana Stabenow has penned an action/adventure thiller without the usual weak cast of characters, thin plot and unreal resolutions. The main protagonist is a cultured and poised Alaskan women who balances strength and vulnerability. While somewhat slow starting as the scene is set, the last third of the book brims with an assortment of fights and chases.
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