Seniors of Nevada

Hard Truth (An Anna Pigeon Novel)

Description

Just days after marrying Sheriff Paul Davidson, Anna Pigeon moves to Colorado to assume her new post as district ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park. When two of three children who'd gone missing from a religious retreat reappear, Anna's investigation brings her face-to-face with a paranoid sect--and with a villain so evil, he'll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end

Ranger Anna Pigeon, Nevada Barr's series heroine (High Country, Flashback), meets her match in this engrossing new thriller set in Rocky Mountain National Park. Heath Jarrod is a climber now confined to a wheelchair after an accident that left her crippled, angry and depressed: "For a few months after the fall, she'd played Christopher Reeve, pretending to be as optimistic, as cheerful, but she was a lousy actor and ... she'd rung down the curtain. The first of many curtains." But there's a second act in her future that begins when two terrified, half-naked little girls stumble out of the woods and into Heath's "handicamp"--they've been missing for weeks, but are too traumatized to tell Heath and then Anna where they've been, or what happened to the third girl who disappeared with them. Beth, the younger, wins Heath's heart; with Anna, she pursues an investigation that leads to a bizarre, quasi-religious cult that's set up its headquarters just outside the park's boundaries, and the youth group leader who'd taken the girls into the wilderness and returned without them. Is Robert Proffit the gentle, spiritual man Anna's seasonal law enforcement agent Rita Perry thinks he is, or a twisted rapist and probable killer whose prayers for the innocent girls in his charge mask his evil nature?

The mysteries keep piling on, as one gruesome discovery leads to another, and Heath begins to realize that even though she's lost the use of her legs, the same tenacity that made her one of the world's leading mountaineers has even more rewarding summits to achieve. Barr builds the suspense skillfully and drives the narrative to a bloody, violent, and unexpected conclusion in one of her best mysteries to date. --Jane Adams

Reviews

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-07-02
Summary: "3.5: grim, gripping enough, flawed, with excellent narration"

"Hard Truth" is certainly a grim tale, with violence and a dark theme running throughout. Even one of the two main females, the guest character Heath Jarrod, struggles with her disability as a secondary thread. That thread, which allows for contemplation about her specific problems and the treatment of similarly afflicted people, at least also provides an opportunity for some personal gain and aid to others in the midst of the grimness.

The darkness of the story, with its degradation of children, bothered me less than I expected and certainly less than many reviewers. Perhaps it was the quality of the narration by Barbara Rosenblat, which was smooth and balanced, or perhaps because the details were not over the top for me. The pace was reasonable, with some sluggishness headed toward the half-way mark.

The main interaction with the perp goes on for an unusually extended stretch compared to a typical detective novel or thriller, which would have more scene changes and back and forth. I guessed the perp fairly early, although without certainty enough to take the edge off.

Two negatives: I'm a big fan of strong, talented women, but there aren't really any good-guy men in this one. I suppose Anna's husband a thousand miles away is probably a good one, safely out of the way this time. The small religious "family" is run by scum, and the author wastes no chances to get her digs in about fundamentalists (easy, somewhat tedious, pickings with characters like these) and more negative commentary about religion than necessary.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-01-26
Summary: "Serial killers are depraved! Beware!"

Nevada Barr is my kind of writer. Strong, secular, humanist, nature-loving and a woman. I can't understand the murderers she writes about. But, I know they exist. I've had just enough darkness in my life to identify with her protagonist. When Anna Pigeon rights the wrong, I am vindicated. But, like Anna, I know too much to live a traditional life, now. Yes, most of her other Anna Pigeon mysteries have less painful situations. So, start with them, experience the National Parks and their beauty. I take comfort thinking there are rangers and police who, like Nevada Barr, keep their sanity when very bad things happen.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-11-10
Summary: "Uncomfortable but well written mystery"

I agree with other reviewers that this is the darkest and most chilling installment in the series so far. It's not the sort of topic I choose to read about and I, too, noticed the relative lack of engagement with the natural park setting that drew me to this series in the first place. Neither is there much in terms of further developing the Anna Pigeon character. But that said, as far as a mystery story goes, this one was well done--enough so to give me a nightmare.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-10-11
Summary: "Chilling Graphic Exciting"

This was my first Nevada Barr book. This book only averaged a 3 star from the readers but I think it was a very exciting read. The villian is a real villian and the heroes are true heros. Very graphic not for the faint of heart but definitely a thriller.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2009-09-27
Summary: "good story but chilling..."

I've always loved the spunky Anna and she is great in this book as always. It's the plot itself that I found chilling. Children being abducted and molested, a cult of ex-mormons, all taking place in the remote Rocky Mountains...well, you get the picture. You are on the edge of your seat the whole book. It's certainly not a cozy series any longer but still a very good series.

The author is a great author, but I'm getting a little spooked by the plots. I think I liked her earlier books better when you could expect the men to always be the bad guys!