Reviews for Nevada Barr CD Collection 2: High Country, Hard Truth, Winter Study

The average rating for Nevada Barr CD Collection 2: High Country, Hard Truth, Winter Study based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-02-18 00:00:00 Josie Lancione I have been into these Anna Pigeon novels from the start. She's a smart and resourceful National Park Ranger who author Barr has moving from one USA National Park to another with each book. This book finds her in Yosemite National Park and I liked the premise that Pigeon can't use most of her ranger skill set because she is stuck as an undercover waitress trying to see whether foul play was involved with the disappearance of four people (including another waitress) in the recent past. Barr finds ways to make this assignment interesting while giving us readers some of the "behind the curtain" details of how this part of a park operation is run. Anna is separated from her "committed relationship" and she is finding that her co-workers are often 20 to 30 years younger than her. This creates some good tension as she tries to find ways to bond with people that she wouldn't otherwise. As the plot rolls out we get some nice details (per usual) about what makes this park the attraction it is. As the story progresses we (along with Anna) get some clues about what those disappearances are really about. That's why it is really disappointing when Anna, not only goes "rogue," but goes against her training in setting up a likely confrontation with the criminal element for which she is not in the slightest prepared. We can see it coming; why can't she? With the encounter comes Anna's resourcefulness and fortitude, but it is just the baseless situation itself that rings false. Because the reader isn't given a good reason why Anna didn't do things in the manner that she was trained, it tends to spoil all that comes after. If you can ignore that, you will enjoy Barr's descriptions of Yosemite in the cold season and her ability to become almost poetic as when she writes that two people are linked by one's cigarette smoke on a winter's night like some weird ectoplasm. The peak of the action comes just after the middle of the book. Then Barr slips the story back to mystery from thriller. I cannot get over the big disconnect, so 2.5 would be generous.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-02-14 00:00:00 Stephen Perry First of all, I want to say that the Anna Pidgeon mystery series is stellar and I absolutely love it. I eagerly await every book and would recommend it to anyone. That being said, there was one glaringly obvious flaw in this book, that I just had to point it out. --(Minor Spoiler References below)-- Anna is supposed to be a law enforcement agent. With her training, and after all her previous exploits in which she is physically harmed, why did she not inform someone of where she was going to be before she went on a 24 mile hike during the winter in one of the most harsh environments?? If someone couldn't have accompanied her, she should, at the least, have called in and let one of the other rangers know where she was going! Also, at the end, when she was walking everywhere, didn't it occur to her that there was a disfigured, partially burned murderer out there who might still want her dead? Yet she continues to be out in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, where even someone who didn't have law enforcement training, and criminals after her, wouldn't dare to walk. Anyway, I just had to get that off my chest. Other than that, this is an excellent series, well worth reading. I just wish Anna would get a bit more sense . . . .