Review by Booklist Review
Ranger Anna Pigeon may be happily married, but she is not willing to pass up an opportunity to advance her career. Rocky Mountain National Park is her new destination, and no sooner does she set foot in the park than she finds herself smack in the middle of a bizarre mystery: two young teen girls who have been missing for weeks reappear. They refuse to talk about their ordeal, and they claim to know nothing about the third girl who vanished with them. Emotionally wrecked Heath Jarrod, who recently lost the use of her legs in a climbing accident, seems to be the only person able to connect with the children, especially the youngest, Beth. As Anna investigates, Heath keeps an informal eye on the kids and in so doing finds new purpose in her life. The villain here is more sadistic than many of the scoundrels Pigeon encountered in previous novels, as vividly demonstrated in the final chapters, but Barr nicely balances the brutality with a thoughtful portrayal of Heath's struggle to rethink herself and Anna's own indomitable spirit and bravery. --Stephanie Zvirin Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Barr's taut 13th thriller to feature Anna Pigeon (after 2004's High Country), the 50-ish National Park Service ranger leaves her new husband, Paul, back in Mississippi, to assume a new post in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, where she encounters a serial killer and a strong, determined woman, Heath Jarrod, much like herself. Heath, a former ice climber now confined to a wheelchair after a near-fatal fall, feels depressed, isolated and helpless. She's camping in the national park with her physician, who's also her aunt, when a pair of battered young girls, two of three missing from a nearby religious retreat, appear at the campsite. Heath and Anna at first dislike one another, but join forces to break the silence enforced by the retreat's domineering head and discover why the youngsters vanished, who took them, where they were and what happened to the third girl. Barr skillfully weaves contemporary issues of parental responsibility, religious and political separatism, and sexual abuse into her harrowing story. She carefully sets the scene in the first part of the book, which builds to a spectacular climax that pits Anna against evil incarnate. Noted for her precise plotting and atmospheric descriptions of nature, Barr again proves her skill in putting believable characters in peril against a backdrop of breathtaking scenery. Agent, Dominick Abel. National author tour. (Mar. 24) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
A massive search ensues when teenage girls disappear from a church group camping trip in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park. Six weeks later, two of the girls emerge, half-naked and traumatized, raising the question, "Where's the third girl?" Two women, park ranger Anna Pigeon and paraplegic camper Heath Jarrod, plunge into the renewed case. The girls profess amnesia, but whisper enough to put Robert Proffit, their youth group leader, under suspicion. They trust Heath and beg her to accompany them home to a remote, sinister-feeling, religious outpost. Meanwhile, Anna spends a night pinned under rocks after being pushed over a cliff by Robert, whose backpack just happens to be leaking fresh blood. Once freed, Anna can't gauge her staff's credibility, and her backcountry hunt becomes fiercely intense when a suspect turns up dead. The women's parallel stories unfold, finally intersecting in a terrifying conclusion. Although Barr's Anna Pigeon series (High Country) have set the standard for outdoor mysteries, her latest is an ambitous, if heavy-handed, attempt to do more; it's as laden with psychological issues (pedophilia, brainwashing) as any urban mystery. Still, fans will want it. For most mystery collections. Barr lives in Clinton, MS. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 12/04.]-Teresa L. Jacobsen, Santa Monica P.L., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Married but living a thousand miles from her bridegroom, National Park Service ranger Anna Pigeon gets another harsh lesson in just how badly men can behave. You'd expect jubilation when two of the three young girls missing from their campsite and presumed dead emerge from the wilderness. But in Rocky Mountain National Park, where Anna's dream job as district ranger has separated her from her husband, Paul Davidson, the return of Beth Dwayne, 12, and Alexis Sheppard, 13, spooks Anna but good. The girls' closemouthed families, stalwart members of the Reformed Saints, refuse to let them talk to psychiatrists, get examined by rape counselors or accept any but lifesaving medical assistance. And Robert Proffit, the born-again youth group leader on whose watch they disappeared, is acting not so suspiciously as weirdly. Counting for help on backcountry ranger Raymond Bleeker and seasonal ranger Rita Perry, Anna's not at all sure she can trust them. Her most dependable ally will be paraplegic climber Heath Jarrod, still raging over the accident that put her in a wheelchair. Together and separately, the two women will confront a series of human predators who show how thin a line separates men from beasts. If the escalating horrors, which make Anna's first 12 novels (High Country, 2004, etc.) seem kind and gentle, don't stand your hair on end, make an emergency appointment with a therapist, or book a tour of the National Parks, where you'll evidently be right at home. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
