I grabbed it off the "New Books" shelf at my library in desperation for something to read while I wait (and wait) for all the books I have on order to finally show up. I was out of books, and being a reading addict, I couldn't face a week of no books to read.
But as I've reluctantly slogged my way through this one, it mainly reminds me of why I stopped being interested in the Anna Pigeon series years ago. I simply don't find stories that revolve around a protagonist-in-peril to be either interesting or rewarding. And that is what all the Anna Pigeon books are about.
Ms. Pigeon gets into a tough spot. Awful things happen to her. She figures out a way to survive through all these awful things. This is pretty much the pattern in book after book. Ho hum. Somehow, I just don't really care.
Back in the 90s when I first got into the Anna Pigeon series, I loved all the different locations - the National Parks; learning about the geography, the wildlife, the ecology, the history, and all that stuff that went into the settings for the novels. Cool stuff, without a doubt.
But I got weary of reading about a heroine/victim/plucky survivor in story after story. It just gets ridiculous after awhile. NO one is both that unlucky (one tight spot after another) and that lucky (always manages to escape aforementioned tight spots), year after year.
Reading another Nevada Barr book just reminds me of why I got into the Police Procedural genre - and especially the Scandinavian entries. Instead of page after page after page of agonizing along with a victim of a crime, there's just the crime which is already a fait accompli, and the intellectual exercise of solving the crime.
I have three other books I also picked up from the library's "New Books" shelf, all of which are written by unfamiliar authors. I hope I may have better luck with one of those - while I wait (and wait) for the books I have on order to come in. *sigh*
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