|
|
|
High Country (Anna Pigeon)
by Nevada Barr (Reader: Joyce Bean)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD (2004-02-10)
ISBN: 1590866606
EAN: 9781590866603
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Release Date: 2004-02-10
SKU: 08010107
Condition: New New
Comments: Five new audio CDs still in factory shrink wrap.
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
It’s fall in the Sierra Mountains, and Anna Pigeon is slinging hash in Yosemite National Park’s historic Ahwahnee Hotel. Four young people, all seasonal park employees, have disappeared, and two weeks of work by crack search-and-rescue teams have failed to turn up a single clue; investigators are unsure as to whether the four went AWOL for reasons of their own - or died in the park. Needing an out-of-park ranger to work undercover, Anna is detailed to dining-room duty; but after a week of waiting tables, she knows the missing employees are only the first indications of a sickness threatening the park.
Her twenty-something roommates give up their party-girl ways and panic; her new restaurant colleagues regard her with suspicion and fear. But when Anna’s life is threatened and her temporary supervisor turns a deaf ear, she follows the scent of evil, taking a solo hike up a snowy trial to the high country, seeking answers. What waits for her is a nightmare of death and greed - and perhaps her final adventure.
"Barr’s trademark pleasures [are] evocative natural descriptions, mounting suspense, and Anna Pigeon’s never-say-die spirit."
- Kirkus Reviews
|
Amazon.com Review
When four young employees of Yosemite National Park disappear, ranger Anna Pigeon goes undercover as a waitress at the Ahwahnee Lodge to investigate. Living in the staff dorm, she soon discovers there's a connection between at least one of the missing girls, a crashed plane containing a fortune in drugs, and the outsiders who've moved into the tent cabin last occupied by a skilled climber who's also among the disappeared. The first attempt on her life doesn't scare her away, but the second is nearly fatal, and Anna's harrowing escape keeps the tension ratcheted up until the denouement. As usual, Nevada Barr turns in a well-paced thriller featuring a compelling protagonist and a strong cast of minor characters, but it's her brilliantly etched landscapes that bring readers back to this popular series again and again. High Country is Anna's thirteenth outing, and it's one of her strongest. --Jane Adams
|
Customer Reviews
|
Back to her old form...
Rating  (4)
Date: 2009-01-04
I have read a number of Nevada Barr mysteries and have enjoyed most of them. However, I had to bail out on the last one I attempted, Liberty Falling, because of Barr's tedious descriptions. So I was very pleased to read High Country and to rediscover the Barr I've come to know and enjoy.
Barr's series involves National Park Service ranger, Anna Pigeon. Pigeon goes from park to park, solving crimes as she goes. At the same time, the reader gets to learn the history (both natural and otherwise) of these national treasures. In High Country, Pigeon is plucked from Mississippi and is temporarily transferred to Yosemite. Four young people have disappeared from the park under mysterious circumstances. Pigeon fills in for one of the missing girls, Trish, who happens to be a waitress at the Ahwahnee Hotel. The hope is that some of Trish's friends will open up and provide some clues for the rangers. Pigeon not only takes Trish's job, but she also uses her dorm room and wears her uniforms. From the start, Pigeon encounters hostility from her colleagues and even threats from an unknown source. Pigeon must discover if they simply don't like her or is there something more sinister going on.
Barr is an actual NPS ranger, and her writing rings true. As for working undercover, she writes "In a very real way, when working undercover, one ceased to exist. The old persona was buried with great care. The new one was a fraud. The only moments of genuine reality were when reporting to the contact in the old life regarding the goings-on in the new."
One small point of disbelief in High Country was passing the 50+ year old Pigeon off as a waitress. It's not that 50 year olds can't serve as waitresses, but it is obvious to everyone that she is trained in something else. But overall, this book was a good read and I'm glad I didn't give up on Barr.
|
|
A mystery coupled with some deep introspection, some really nasty bad guys, better hold on for quite a ride
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-08-11
Having read a good many books in this series I found High Country suffered from a couple of sequences that lost some of their sharpness due to their protracted length - perhaps some more agressive editing was called for - but that is a hard thing for some editors to do, giving the author's pervious successes. In addition the drug plane idea has been used by others so lacked the drama that might otherwise accompany the "find".
What raises this book above the average in my opinion, is the growth that the protagonist, Ranger Anna Pigeon undergoes in this story. One thing that bothered me about this very human and likable character was that I shared book after book with her and yet she wasn't really changing, not inside, no character developement, even while her life and career continued to evolve. How ironic that in this book where she is undercover, without a real identiy, that she actually does some subtle and seriously profound thinking about who she really is. Or perhaps this is not so ironic. When robbed of all she is and all she has ever been, when set adrift in humanity on the thin veneer of lies, when no one knows who you are, when every act is completely married with falsehood, then it is that Anna finds what she misses most, is herself.
|
|
Anna in Yosemite
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-08-07
Her experience waiting tables in college lands park ranger Anna Pigeon in an undercover assignment in food services at Yosemite National Park. Four of the park's employees have gone missing, and the rangers in the park aren't finding any leads. Anna is rooming with a couple of fluffhead girls while posing as a middle-aged waitress, but even her proximity to the other employees can't make her fit in. When one of her roommates collapses after getting high on something, Anna becomes concerned. Some odd men claiming to be friends of one of the missing employees have taken over his cabin, and their presence, along with mountains of gear, coupled with a snippet of overheard conversation and a single-line note from a missing woman to her brother, send Anna on a wilderness hike that very nearly ends her life when she stumbles across a big secret.
Though I wouldn't be so ungenerous as to say the book fell flat, it was definitely missing a vital ingredient usually present in these adventures. Anna spent an inordinate amount of time being hunted by killers in the wilderness and not enough putting things together. The villains were also perhaps a tad too sadistic, and they roughed Anna up a little more than necessary. In all, though it wasn't my favorite Anna Pigeon mystery, it was still a decent chapter in her saga.
|
|
Highs and Lows
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-03-30
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Anna, far from home and undercover brings back the classic Nevada Barr we've missed in previous titles. The famous Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park is the location of Anna's new position, slinging hash. Barr reminds us of the aching feet, sore muscles, and endurance one must execute to keep a smile on your face under those eatery conditions.
The vivid contrast between undercover conditions and hike into the splendor of the mountains is vintage Barr as so many readers have used her stories as tour guides to our national treasures.
After all the danger, evil, suspense and injuries, this one gives the reader a fine ending.
Nash Black, author of WRITING AS A SMALL BUINESS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.
|
|
Great Gift!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-01-14
I got this unabridged Nevada Barr CD/novel for an avid Anna Pigeon Mystery fan...and it "fit the bill" as a satisfying gift to give. The Giftee was mighty pleased.
|
|
|
|
|