ISBN: 0-525-94438-9 Order from: Amazon.com
This solid mystery gains strong appeal through colorful, likeable and sometimes touching characters, and fascinating background of rural Alaskan life.
Reviewed by David on February 06, 2005
Genre: Mystery (Police Procedural, Alaska)
Synopsis: Liam Campbell was once a rising star. A promising career officer in the Alaskan troopers, the handsome, intelligent policeman has come crashing down. With his only child dead, his wife in a coma, and his career in shambles after a deadly mishap under his command, he arrives at Newenham, a remote fishing village, as the sole trooper.
His diffuculties are not helped by his meeting with Wyanet Chouinard, his former lover. A mixture of guilt and joy on seeing her is complicated by her possible role in the homocide that waits for Cambell on his arrival.
But Campbell's life is not all dispair and suspicion. The bleak Alaskan landscape hides beauty and strength, both of nature and of character. The people of Newenham strive for redemption and happiness, and Liam Campbell among them.
Full Review: The author shows her skill with both colorful portrayal of Alaskan life, full of danger and happiness, squalor and beauty. No less than the background, the characters show three-dimensional, appealing attributes. They are stubborn, bright, suspicious, funny, sympathetic and angry. The police investigation is competent but not remarkable, but the background and the characters make this mystery stand out. One is left both satisfied and eager to follow the main characters further.
Overall: 6.5; Plot: 5.5; Characters: 6.5; Style: 6; World-building: 6.5; Originality: 6;
Copyright date 1998, Penguin Putnam (New American Library), October 1998, Cloth, 264 pages
ISBN: 0-525-94438-9 Order from: Amazon.com