Review: Pitch Dark: A Novel by Paul Doiron

 

Recently Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch and Stacy Woodson were married. As Pitch Dark: A Novel by Paul Doiron begins, they are talking about the important changes to their lives when they are interrupted by a phone call. Game Warden Brandon Barstow is a young warden and unsure of himself, but thinks he might have a missing person’s case.

 

It is the first week of May and pouring rain, as it has for weeks now. Game Warden Barstow gradually explains that a man from Idaho, Hammond Pratt, is missing from his rented cabin at Seboomook Farm located up in the Rockwood District. Pratt rented an ATV from the property owner and left on it after asking questions about some guy and his young daughter that are supposed to be in the woods, somewhere nearby.

 

Game Warden Barstow knows that a guy by the name of Mark Redmond and his young daughter are in the area at Prentiss Pond building a cabin. The work site is very close to the Canadian Border. Apparently, they are the ones that Pratt was asking about before he left on the ATV.

 

Game Warden Barstow tells Bowditch other things that paint a seriously odd picture. It becomes clear that, regardless of the weather, he needs to get up there and assess the situation, in order to know what to do. He has to make a determination in order to start a search and rescue operation. At this point, Bowditch does not know enough to make that determination.

 

As it turns out, the horrible weather will be the least of his problems.

 

What follows is a page turning story that gets increasingly violent and convoluted. Much is happening in Pitch Dark: A Novel by Paul Doiron and all of it keeps the reader highly entertained. The situation is complicated. Bowditch is going to be lucky to have a career, let alone his life, when things are said and done. Highly recommended.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3VtpJmn

 

My digital reading copy came from Minotaur Books, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Review: Dead Man’s Wake: A Novel by Paul Doiron

Dead Man’s Wake: A Novel by Paul Doiron opens with an engagement party. Stacy Stevens and Mike Bowditch are being celebrated by Mike’s stepfather, Neil Turner and his new wife, Jubilee, as well as Stacy’s parents, Charley and Ora Stevens. They are at the stepdad’s lake house in central Maine. Great Pond was the inspiration for the play and subsequent movie, On Golden Pond, and is busy this Labor Day weekend evening. The roar of speedboats as well as the loud noise of occasional jet ski has been something all day and evening. The fact that it is dark has not slowed down those racing across the surface of the lake.

All too predictably with so many racing around after dark, the sounds of a crash are heard. It is clear to everyone in the group that a speedboat and a jet skier collided out in the waters somewhere around the nearby Moose Island. Mike sees a speedboat circle back and then the running lights are turned off. The person or persons on that boat know they hit somebody and are trying to hide in the dark night.

With limited resources, and as the only law enforcement around and available, Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch has to go out to the general area of the crash and look for any injured survivors as well as anyone deceased. After some investigation, a detached human arm is found. Most likely, the person that lost the arm is dead.

What follows is a complicated read featuring a watery crime scene, a wealthy family and their legacy, and a past full of resentment and hate. As is benefits the long running series, the read is not one that focuses on character development as many here are long running characters that readers well know and love. Instead, the primary focus is on the case. Identifying the victims out in those lake waters, the suspects, and working the case. A complicated and entertaining read, the latest in the long running series, Dead Man’s Wake: A Novel is very much worth your time.

 

My reading copy was an ARC via NetGalley.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023