Review: Boar Island (Anna Pigeon #19) by Nevada Barr

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 384 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (May 17 2016)
• Sold by: Macmillan CA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0176QQRJS

Book Description

Anna Pigeon, in her career as a National Park Service Ranger, has had to deal with all manner of crimes and misdemeanors, but cyber-bullying and stalking is a new one. The target is Elizabeth, the adopted teenage daughter of her friend Heath Jarrod. Elizabeth is driven to despair by the disgusting rumors spreading online and bullying texts. Until, one day, Heath finds her daughter Elizabeth in the midst of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. And then she calls in the cavalry---her aunt Gwen and her friend Anna Pigeon.

While they try to deal with the fragile state of affairs---and find the person behind the harassment---the three adults decide the best thing to do is to remove Elizabeth from the situation. Since Anna is about to start her new post as Acting Chief Ranger at Acadia National Park in Maine, the three will join her and stay at a house on the cliff of a small island near the park, Boar Island.

But the move east doesn't solve the problem. The stalker has followed them east. And Heath (a paraplegic) and Elizabeth aren't alone on the otherwise deserted island. At the same time, Anna has barely arrived at Acadia before a brutal murder is committed by a killer uncomfortably close to her.
BOAR ISLAND is a brilliant intertwining of past and present, of victims and killers, in a compelling novel that only Nevada Barr could write.

About the Author

 Nevada Barr is a mystery fiction author, known for her "Anna Pigeon" series of mysteries, set in National Parks in the United States. Barr has won an Agatha Award for best first novel for Track of the Cat.

Barr was named after the state of her birth. She grew up in Johnstonville, California. She finished college at the University of California, Irvine. Originally, Barr started to pursue a career in theatre, but decided to be a park ranger. In 1984 she published her first novel, Bittersweet, a bleak lesbian historical novel set in the days of the Western frontier.

While working in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Barr created the Anna Pigeon series. Pigeon is a law enforcement officer with the United States National Park Service. Each book in the series takes place in a different National Park, where Pigeon solves a murder mystery, often related to natural resource issues. She is a satirical, witty woman whose icy exterior is broken down in each book by a hunky male to whom she is attracted (such as Rogelio).

Currently, Ms. Barr lives in New Orleans, LA.

www.nevadabarr.com

http://us.macmillan.com/author/nevadabarr

 https://twitter.com/nevadabarr

My Review

Boar Island is the nineteenth book in the Anna Pigeon series by author Nevada Barr. I have read quite a few of the books in this series. One of my favorite books ever is Ill Wind from this series. It introduced me to the wonders of Mesa Verde for which I will always be grateful. Boar Island is set in and around Acadia National Park which is a gorgeous park in Maine that I have had the privilege to visit. I wish the book had been set in the park more.

There are two stories going on in Boar Island. One involves Anna's goddaughter Elizabeth and her mother Heath. It is about cyber-bullying which is a very timely topic. The other involves identical twin sisters who were separated as children and have now found each other.

I found Boar Island to be a dark book between the stalker story and the sister's escapades. The characters all have a darkness that comes through to the reader. The Anna Pigeon books form a very interesting series of books that really explore the characters involved.

A good addition to the Anna Pigeon series.