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Title: Flashback by Nevada Barr, Joyce Bean ISBN: 1-59086-006-3 Publisher: Brilliance Audio Pub. Date: 10 February, 2003 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 5 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.81 (36 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Parallel stories
Comment: Anna Pigeon finds herself in the isolated Dry Tortuga National Park as temporary supervisory ranger replacing a man who has suffered from delusions and mental problems. The timing seems right, as Anna has just been proposed to by Sheriff Paul Davidson in Mississippi and she needs some time and space to consider the offer. She finds that entertainment is lacking on the small islands, so she's pleased when her sister sends letters that their great-great-aunt wrote while her husband was commander of Fort Jefferson on Garden Key. The book alternates a chapter on Anna's investigation of suspicious activities at the park with letters from her great-aunt which describe her life during Civil War times when the fort was used as a prison. The most notorious prisoners were two men who were thought to be conspirators in Lincoln's assassination, and were thus reviled by all those around them. Although at times it's frustrating for the reader to be forcibly moved from one exciting plot to the other, the two stories are well-written and interestingly intertwined. Anna, ever the intrepid heroine, goes through a series of death-defying scenarios, but emerges as a surprisingly vulnerable character. Kudos to Nevada Barr for another enjoyable read!
Rating: 4
Summary: A Reluctant Four Stars
Comment: I recently began reading Nevada Barr's books featuring Ranger Anna Pigeon at the suggestion of my daughter, her husband (they have both been rangers in the National Park Service) and my wife, all of whom have enjoyed the series. I enjoyed HUNTING SEASON enough that I decided to read FLASHBACK, and as my review will make clear my reactions to the book were very ambivalent. The book involves Anna's decision to accept a temporary post at Dry Tortugas National Park located near Garden Key off the coast of Florida. We actually attended a talk and book signing for Nevada Barr recently; she revealed that the location for this story had been suggested to her by three different readers during a previous book tour. Thus, if you have any suggestions for her, I recommend that you locate the nearest stop on her current tour and feel confident that she will listen carefully to you.
Dry Tortugas Park consists primarily of Fort Wadsworth, a military fortress constructed prior to the civil war but utilized instead as a Union prison for reasons explained in the novel. In addition to Confederate Civil war prisoners, the Lincoln Conspirators were imprisoned there, and this fact is an integral part of the story. Anna is temporarily replacing the previous superintendent of the facility, who has been institutionalized after seeing apparitions and apparently suffering a nervous breakdown. Shortly after assuming her post, Anna begins to delve into the Fort's history through reading the letters of her great-great aunt Raffia, who lived at the Fort during the civil war while her husband was the military commandant of the prison. Two parallel mysteries unfold and need to be solved, one involving some mysterious events and disappearances described in the letters and one involving present day events. The unexplained explosion of a mysterious cigar boat in the waters near the Fort and accompanying loss of life lead to a series of incidents that endanger Anna and cause her to question her own sanity. Thus she is distracted from what she hoped would be a quiet assignment during which she could resolve her indecision about the proposal of marriage which she recently received from sheriff and ex-priest Paul Davidson. Additional complexities eventually develop, including the real motivations of Anna's coworkers; given the closed and isolated nature of the post she suspects that recent deaths, disappearances and apparently illegal activities must involve the complicity of someone stationed at the Fort.
This is a very well plotted mystery, and the conclusion is very satisfying (altough a little contrived) as Anna unravels the threads of both the present day events and also finds a soluion to the unexplained occurrences outlined in Raffia's letters. There are some really interesting characters, and their interaction with Anna is a joy at times. In addition, there are some observations that really ring true and are articulated quite enjoyably, for instance:
Anna mirrored my own frustration at times when she kept exchanging messages with a law enforcemant officer on the mainland and observed "it seemed with each new invention developed to make communication easier- call waiting, forwarding, voicemail, pagers, cell phones - the more dificult it became to get in touch with anyone"
or tourists at the Fort "made the place mundane,{robbing it} of mystery and romance".
And what a great personal insight, "of the various neuroses, the one she most lusted after was the one that she could never quite attain".
Finally what a wonderful reply by Paul to her indecision concerning his marriage proposal and her question about its duration. "It will stand forever. Maybe lean a little after eight hundred years like the Tower of Pisa, but it will still be standing."
So, why did I only reluctantly rate this book as high four stars, and not a glowing five stars? I found that the technique which the author used to weave the two stories together significantly inhibited my enjoyment. Anna's adventures are interspersed in alternate chapters with the letters of Raffia, which relate the events during the Civil War. Furthermore, many of the chapters end in the midst of very tense situations, while this seems somewhat natural in the case of the letters it seems totally contrived in Anna's situation. Thus, I found it very easy to put the book down since I knew the next chapter provided no continuity with what I had just read. This is just the opposite of what I expect from a good mystery, where I want to get so involved that I stay up late to keep reading. I was tempted to sometimes just skip ahead, but was never sure whether I would lose context by so doing. So I found the effort by the author interesting and credit her with the attempt to do something new, but in the end I found it unsatisfying and while it was intellectually interesting it detracted from my enjoyment of the story. And from both other reviews and the reaction of my wife and friends, I realize that my feelings are quite widely shared. So I recommend the book, but with the caveat that you should be prepared for this very unusual literary technique.
Rating: 5
Summary: A definite winner!
Comment: No doubt about it, the man can simply write! This was a great story, with great characters, and a great plot! Highly recommend it!
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Title: Hunting Season by Nevada Barr ISBN: 0425188787 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: High Country by Nevada Barr ISBN: 0399151443 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 05 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: A Superior Death by Nevada Barr ISBN: 042519471X Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 02 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Blind Descent: : An Anna Pigeon Mystery by Nevada Barr ISBN: 0380728265 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Endangered Species by Nevada Barr ISBN: 0380725835 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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