High Country by Nevada Barr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Torture was good. It gave her time."

What a difficult book to review! Nevada Barr's High Country (2004), my fifth book in her National Parks series featuring ranger Anna Pigeon, seems to be composed of two completely different parts: 240 pages of amateurish crime solving and inept, awkward prose, and - in the middle of this dud - a 60-page jewel of a thriller: an outstanding, well-written story of extremely brutal fight-to-death and survival in the unforgiving winter mountain scenery. If I were a suspicious reader, I would immediately jump to a conclusion that Ms. Barr wrote the 60 pages herself (she can write well as evidenced by, for example, Blood Lure ) and then had the remaining clunker ghost-written by someone else. (I prefer not to entertain the idea that it was the other way around.)

Ms. Pigeon works undercover as a waitress in the historic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley. She is on the assignment because four young people (mainly National Park personnel) disappeared during a period between two heavy snow storms and some kind of foul play is suspected. There had been serial murders in a nearby town so some people suspect a copycat in action. In addition to the investigating the disappearances Ms. Pigeon is facing a constantly growing array of mysterious happenings: a near-death experience of her roommate, presence of some strange men in one of the tent cabins that used to belong to climbers, several attempts on her life, and other events that are hard to explain.

Based on scraps of conversations that she has overheard she sets up to hike in the higher portion of Yosemite Park. Finally, by page 150 or so, the author delivers what I have been waiting for: descriptions of gorgeous mountain scenery. Ms. Pigeon takes the reader onto the Illilouette Trail and to Lower Merced Pass Lake. Here, the truly excellent part of the novel begins. First the author hints at the possible solution of the disappearances and several other mysteries. Then we have the unforgettable thriller sequence where Ms. Pigeon has to fight for her life against extremely brutal opponents. Her survival depends on her using equally brutal means. The fight culminates in one of the most gut-wrenching duels I have seen on pages of thrillers. Gripping, well-written, and not in any way more implausible than the plots of most famous bestselling thrillers.

Alas, good things do not last forever and for the closing part of the novel we are back to pedestrian plot and completely uninspired writing. I feel the need to repeat myself: it is hard to believe that the same author who wrote the thrilling and captivating 60 pages is responsible for painfully clumsy prose full of circumlocutions (for example, "blissfully unaware of the currents of unease"), for editorializing characters thoughts, and other inanities.

By the way, I love the title: a cool double entendre! The rating is the average of five stars for the thriller and one star for the hopeless main part of the book.

Three stars

View all my reviews