The ghost of his father
continues to haunt him in the latest in the Game Warden Mike Bowditch series, Widowmaker.
So too does a training film he saw on his first day as a cadet of the Maine
Criminal Justice Academy. That message five years ago stuck in his mind and
regularly appears in his nightmares.
He had just been
thinking about the film and the message delivered by the instructor when a strange
vehicle appeared at the road down by the end of his drive minutes after he had
gotten home on this January evening. That vehicle is a concern and he puts his
gun belt back on to deal with the situation. What had been planned as a quiet
evening at home by himself as his wildlife biologist girlfriend, Stacy, is out
of town, is now on the backburner due to the red Grand Cherokee parked with somebody
inside smoking. The driver turns out to be a 48 year old woman named Amber
Langstrom.
First, she says she
pulled over on the narrow road to make a call. Then she says she needs to use a
restroom. Finally, she says she was sitting at the drive trying to work up the
courage to come talk to Mike about his father, Jack Bowditch. The man is dead
and buried, but his criminal actions in Maine are legendary and that legacy has
been a heavy burned on Mike Bowditch. After coming up to the house, Amber Langstrom
drops a bombshell on Mike.
She claims that she
had a relationship with Jack Bowditch many years ago. It was a sexual
relationship. If she is to be believed, this happened right before Mike’s world
turned upside down, as his parents divorced and he moved away with his Mom.
Amber Langstrom goes on to allege that her son, Adam, is Jack’s son making him Mike’s
half-brother. Adam is missing and she believes Mike should look for him. Adam
was recently released from prison after serving two years time for a conviction
for having a sexual relationship with a minor. He was 17, she was 14, and they
were in love until her parents found out. Adam’s life was forever changed and
Mom is very angry as to what happened. Classified and registered as a sex
offender, Adam has been out for three months and been following all the rules
according to his mom. He has been working and living at a logging camp that serves
as a halfway house for registered sex offenders with nowhere else to go. She is
desperate for Mike’s help to find her missing son.
After some
preliminary checking by phone and a lot of thought, Bowditch eventually makes
the journey to the Widowmaker Ski Resort to start looking for Adam. The woods
surrounding the resort may be lovely, dark, and deep, but they also hide many
secrets. Secrets of a variety with lots of players determined to settle scores
and keep things hidden in the snows of Maine.
Widowmmaker is the
latest in the series that began with the Edgar award nominated The
Poacher’s Son. Six books later, the central character Mike Bowditch
continues to evolve and change as he gains wisdom and maturity. The mysteries
and complexities of daily life, person al relationships, and other issues
continue to be a background staple in this long running and very good mystery series.
Widowmaker
Paul Doiron
Minotaur Books
June 2016
ISBN# 978-1-250-06370-0
Hardback (available
in eBook and audio formats)
310 Pages
$25.99
Material supplied for me to read and
review by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016
No comments:
Post a Comment