Winter Study (An Anna Pigeon Novel)
by Nevada Barr
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Book Summary Information
Author: Nevada BarrEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-07
ISBN: 0425226956
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Berkley
Book Reviews of Winter Study (An Anna Pigeon Novel)
Book Review: Reading any Nevada Barr novel is like watching Travel Channel on steroids
Summary: 5 Stars
The Winter Study and title of Nevada Barr's latest intriguing thriller is a scientific expedition to gather information about diminishing wolf/moose population in Isle Royale National Park on an island in Lake Superior, near the Canadian border. "Blood flew like a flock of cardinals over the ice," when removing by ax for scientific examination the head of a moose that had just died. There are only two things of which one can be certain: death and an intriguing murder mystery by Nevada Barr.
Winter Study is set as a study of moose and wolves, but it is more an instrument to explore the animal in each of us than the animals mentioned in the Study. Winter Study is a study of human psychology, the human condition, an introspective evaluation of id, a study of interactions between people in close quarters.
Members of the Study are isolated on a frozen island and at times share space so close in a tent that "boots had to be left outside". With a conceivable stretch of the imagination, a small group of people can be tossed together in cubicles at the office, on a travel tour bus, at a family gathering. How one tries to dominate is as evident in Winter Study as it is in Lord Of The Flies, or in this election year, how candidates claw out each other's eyes to vie for votes. At first, it appears that members of the Study are considerate of each other, but appearances are deceiving.
Living in subtropical South Florida, it's difficult to imagine consummate cold, but with beautiful imagery, Barr describes one lanky character as "a scarecrow in an arctic Oz, cold so vicious and unrelenting, it felt personal." On a research outing, "a heater that did not deserve the name was a recipe for misery, if not frostbite," and members of the Winter Study group "wear more layers than an onion." Observing a snow-covered meadow, weeds "poked up through winter's thin skin like old men's chin stubble."
When protagonist Anna Pigeon is unsure she can tolerate abject cold on an outing and another member of the Study appears to have less fortitude, Barr observes, "It was far better to be graciously considerate of a weak link than to have to admit to being one." However, "Aggressively avoiding a topic broadcasts just how emotionally charged that topic is."
Reading any Nevada Barr novel is like watching Travel Channel on steroids, each an education of environment peculiar to that location. As to wolves in the Study, Barr observes, "Wolves' reputation as cold-blooded killers of little girls in red capes was unearned." The wolves, like members of the Study, cling to each other for survival but in one flashback, the pack turns on one as a group and relentlessly torments it. As to humans similarly treating their own kind, one need read no further than Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. Who hasn't endured a gauntlet of abuse by bullies at school, or subtle abuse at work? As for members of the Study, subtle clues channel the attentive reader as to the identity of those who meet an ill-fated end.
Barr explores every avenue of each character, acts as prosecutor, defense attorney, judge and jury. She details every scene, then punches home the philosophy between the eyes "with the subtlety of brass knuckles."
For the first hundred and a half pages, Barr leads the reader down a well-described nature trail on a deserted island with no communication to the outside in the dead of winter, only to leave the reader in the midst of a mystery. When a Study researcher runs off into the wilderness at night and is killed by wolves, HELP ME is spectrally etched on windows before other researchers' eyes. If Barr told mystery stories like this to youngsters at bedtime, there would be wet sheets, if they ever went to sleep.
With text as rich as Donald Trump, Barr has the reader holding on to this cliffhanger with fingertips as strong and manicured as her poetic prose. Barr leaves subtle clues, then like freezing water in a shower, shocks the reader with how obvious were circumstances that lead to the deaths of three of the eight Study members, and why those people died. What starts simply as a beautifully scripted tale of people dedicated to the study of wolves/moose ends as a phenomenally crafted mystery with tremendous philosophical insight into the motivations of individuals, in this well-deserved bestseller.
---Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy
Summary of Winter Study (An Anna Pigeon Novel)
Soon after Anna Pigeon joins the famed wolf study team of Isle Royale National Park, giant wolf prints are found, and she spies the form of a great wolf from a surveillance plane. When a female member of the team is savaged, Anna is convinced they are being stalked, and what was once a beautiful, idyllic refuge becomes a place of unnatural occurrences and danger beyond the ordinary.Literature & Fiction Books
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