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National Park Service rangers are often assigned to areas outside of their home park when situations demand. Anna Pigeon is on a three-week fire presuppression tour on drought-stricken Cumberland Island, Georgia. As the book opens, she is wrestling with a huge loggerhead turtle to help it lay its eggs. On the whole, the work is boring and consists of driving around the island looking for fire. One day, she and another ranger, Dijon Smith, see smoke and come upon a plane responsible for aerial drug surveillance that has crashed, killing its two occupants. The crash investigator finds evidence of sabotage, and Anna becomes unofficially involved in the investigation when she goes to find the mechanic's log and ends up getting bashed in the head. Although she doesn't do much in the actual way of detection, Anna uncovers a drug operation, a naive saboteur and a deranged killer. In addition to her professional challenges, Anna is facing personal tests as well. First is the fact that she is having difficulty adjusting to the hot, humid environment with its chiggers, ticks and other assorted nasties, having spent most of her recent time in the dry Southwest wilderness. Secondly, her beloved sister Molly is receiving death threats. Anna can't help her directly, so she asks her lover, FBI agent Frederick Stanton, to see what he can do. That leads to all sort of complications, although this particular story line is never fully developed. Overall, this book is not up to the level of its four predecessors. There are too many red herrings, and Anna seems largely to stumble upon clues rather than revealing them in her usual fastidious way. However, she does develop a group of interesting characters. Barr always does a wonderful job of building a sense of place -- the setting is truly remarkable.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, January 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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