by Dana Stabenow
Genre: thriller/mystery
3/5
Buy on Amazon
Kate Shugak is a former D.A. in Anchorage who returns to her roots, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in Alaska, after a brutal encounter with a child molester. Trying to hide in her cabin, she is called out to find a missing park ranger with ties to a congressman, as well as an FBI agent (and her former lover) who went looking for him.
I liked parts of this book. The setting of an Alaskan wilderness was fascinating, along with learning about the Aleut culture in small-town Alaska. I liked how it ended, and a lot of the drama among the characters. A lot of the characters were really cool too.
I didn't like a few things too. It was slow. Even though this is the first book in the series it feels like it needs an entire book before it to flesh out Kate's back story. I feel like there's a lot of telling vs. showing in that respect. And Kate seems to have slept with half the men in the book, which isn't exactly a turn-off, but introducing 3? 4? former/current lovers seems a bit over-kill to me. I'm assuming this was to build up tension for later books.
I liked it, but I didn't love it enough to get the next book in the series. It did win an Edgar Award though (and the author's forward about winning the award was pretty funny), so it must have something to it that big mystery readers find important and amazing.
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