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Mike Bowditch is a 24-year-old game warden who likes solitude and avoiding unnecessary complications.  His father, Jack, is a definite complication.  A poacher and trapper, Jack is a "saloon-brawling logger with a rap sheet of misdemeanors and the public persona of a Tasmanian devil" (53) who finds himself in constant trouble with the law.  Still, Mike can't contain his shock when he's informed that his father is the prime suspect in the murder of a beloved police officer.  No one understands Jack's volatile nature better than his son, but Mike still can't believe his father is capable of murder.  In order to clear his name, Mike will have to find the real killer.  

Putting his job and his reputation on the line, Mike travels deep into the Maine wilderness in search of his missing father.  With only a retired warden pilot on his side, he feels almost helpless.  Determined to find the truth, Mike soldiers on, risking more and more as the investigation goes on.  Can he prove his father innocent?  Or will he just destroy everything he's worked so hard for in the pursuit of an impossible outcome?

The Poacher's Son, a debut novel by Paul Doiron and the first in a series, is a taut, atmospheric thriller featuring a brave, likable hero.  Taut and compelling, the plot twists and turns, keeping the reader constantly on edge.  Although it's a grim tale, The Poacher's Son is engrossing enough to make me want to read more in this intriguing series.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of the Glacier Mystery series by Christine Carbo [The Wild Inside; Mortal Fall; and The Weight of Night] as well as books by C.J. Box and Nevada Barr)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for strong language, violence, blood/gore, sexual content, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

After being wounded in Afghanistan a year ago, retired U.S. Army Corporal Mercy Carr is back home in Vermont to recover.  She's also mourning her fiancé, who was killed in action.  The 29-year-old is not alone in her sorrow—she's adopted Martinez's bomb-sniffing dog, a PTSD-laden Belgian shepherd named Elvis.  Together, the pair spend their days hiking off their grief in the Green Mountains.  Their peace is interrupted one day when they find a crying infant alone in the wilderness, perched not far from where Elvis alerts to the presence of both explosives and human remains.  Shocked by the discovery, Mercy calls the authorities.

Troy Warner, a U.S. game warden, is called to the scene.  Immediately intrigued by both the situation and the beautiful corporal, he enlists Mercy's unofficial help with the investigation.  Along with his patrol dog, Susie Bear, the four make a powerful team.  Together, they uncover an intriguing mystery featuring a missing mother, an endangered infant, and a possibly explosive situation at the town's Fourth of July celebration.  It's up to the four of them to get to the bottom of the situation before it gets horribly—fatally—out of hand.

Despite the positive buzz I've heard about A Borrowing of Bones, a debut novel by Paula Munier and the start of a series, I actually found the book to be a bit of a disappointment.  Although it stars a quartet of appealing characters, the humans are not very well developed.  The minor cast members suffer from the same problem, so much so that I had a hard time keeping track of who was who.  The plot is interesting enough, but it's bogged down by detail-heavy overwriting.  I did enjoy the small-town setting, as well as the fact that A Borrowing of Bones is unusually clean for a crime novel.  Overall, then, I liked the book enough to pick up the next volume in the series, but I'm not exactly chomping at the bit.  

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't really think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for mild language (no F-bombs), violence, and innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find