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High Country
By Nevada Barr
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Reviewed by: Rob Holden
One of the old chestnuts that creative writing teachers from time immemorial have attempted to get through to their students (one has visions of Schlockus Literatus pounding the idea into the brain of an adolescent Homer) is "write what you know." Of course, this is an idea that needs to be taken in moderation. I doubt very much that Nevada Barr knows a great deal about setting people on fire or shooting them at point blank range with large caliber weapons -- both of which happen in this novel -- but it is obvious that she knows a goodly amount about how people feel, and about getting older, and about the great and glorious high country of Yosemite National Park, where the book is set. More than anything else, however, Nevada Barr knows what makes people -- and particularly her characters -- tick.
As the novel opens we find Anna Pigeon -- the National Park Service ranger who has starred in 12 previous Barr mysteries -- working undercover as a waitress at the historic Ahwahnee Hotel's restaurant in Yosemite National Park. Four park employees have disappeared recently and internal search and investigation teams haven't been able to turn up a clue as to what has happened to them -- or even whether there has been any foul play. Anna is brought in from the outside to investigate, using her cover as a waitress to allow her to get close to some of the other park employees. Pushing fifty, Anna rooms with fellow waitresses barely out of their teens and rapidly begins to understand that there is something very wrong amid the idyllic winter wonderland of Yosemite that goes much deeper than the four missing park employees. As she appears to be getting closer to the truth, Anna finds that her life -- as well as several other lives -- are in danger and the only way she is going to survive is to find the answers.
Okay, straight up -- the first 60 pages or so of this novel are pretty slow going. There is a LOT of set up, and there are a few things that don't seem to make sense at first -- but do yourself a favor and stick with it, because it's more than worth it. The story is strong, the mystery is clever and well constructed and there are 75 pages or so in the middle of this book where Anna is on her own in the Yosemite wilderness battling bad guys that contain some of the sharpest, most exciting action writing I've ever read. Not ever read by a woman, not ever read about a woman, not even read in the last few years -- ever read, period. The ending is surprising and makes perfect sense, and leaves the reader satisfied.
Which brings me back to how I started this review and to writers writing about what they know. For me, what makes High Country special is the fact that Anna Pigeon -- who we met in the 1980's in Track of the Cat when she was in her thirties -- is now pushing fifty, and that's exactly how Barr writes her. Anna is not a perpetual 33, and she is not Wonder Woman and Barr's unique insight into this character and honesty as a story teller lets the reader know that if she does something extraordinary today, she is damn sure going to be feeling it in her neck and back and knees tomorrow. Unlike so many series writers who don't allow their characters to age, Barr seems to enjoy chronicling the changes that come to Anna with the passing of the years and this is never more evident than in the scenes in which Anna is alone with her roommates, who are 30 years her junior. Even in the action scenes, Barr seems to be saying: "Anna can still kick ass, it's just going to take a little bit longer."
In this reviewer's opinion, Anna can take all the time she wants. At least in the case of High Country, it's worth the wait.
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