BORDERLINE
Nevada Barr
Putnam Adult
Mystery
ISBN: 9780399155697
National Park Service Ranger Anna Pigeon returns from a harrowing experience in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (WINTER STUDY) in a fragile mental state. Her killing, albeit in self-defense, of a mentally deranged serial murderer has left her with a full-blown case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Her superiors at the Park Service have ordered her to take some R&R time to heal her emotional wounds, and her new sheriff/minister husband, Paul, couldn’t agree more.
The almost-newlyweds decide on a whitewater rafting trip through Santa Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande River where it creates the border between Texas and Mexico through Big Bend National Park. They could make the trip with fellow rangers, but Anna wants to remove herself from the uniforms and shop talk. So the pair opts for a tourist trip with a seasoned river guide, Carmen, and four college students on a year-end outing.
The outing begins on a light note as the rafters attempt to rescue a hapless, starving cow that strayed across the Rio Grande and is trapped on a cliff because of high water. In their efforts to lead the cow down to safe ground, one of the river rafters discovers what appears to be the body of a pregnant Mexican woman floating in the reeds on the American side of the Rio Grande.
Meanwhile, a high-level political conference is taking place at Big Bend Headquarters where the popular mayor of Houston is preparing to announce her candidacy for governor. She has arrived with her full entourage of security detail and the ever-present press corps.
These two events will converge with the turmoil of the Rio Grande at full flood stage caused by an early monsoon season storm in ways that dwarf the horrors of Anna’s encounter on Lake Superior the preceding winter. The group’s rescue attempt of the woman attracts a sniper who begins to pick off the rafters one by one.
BORDERLINE, a title that describes not only the geographical location but also the state of Anna’s mind, races from page to page with the pace of a raft spinning out of control in a raging flood. Determined to save the life of a helpless infant to assuage her dark feelings for taking another, less innocent life, Anna embarks on often perilous and dangerous feats of bravado, endangering not only her life but that of her husband Paul as well.
Anna must make some tough decisions about her future in the Park Service. Due to her medical leave of absence and her erratic behavior, she is relegated to a mere civilian by investigators of the crimes, leaving her feeling even more frustrated and depressed. It is a time of reckoning for Ranger Anna Pigeon. Should she retire to Mississippi with her husband Paul, or continue in a career she has always loved but that may no longer accept her?
Mother Nature, immigration politics and heroism combine to make BORDERLINE one of Nevada Barr’s most compelling suspense novels in this always eagerly awaited series.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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