A Fatal Thaw

"A Fatal Thaw", the second Kate Shugak book, is a substantial improvement on the first: the plot is more complicated, the characterization is stronger, the descriptions of Alaska and its people are sharp, vivid and memorable. This was the book that made me eager to read the rest of the series.

Dana Stabenow makes Alaska a character in her books. In " A Fatal Flaw" we experience the ferocious beauty of Alaska's mountains via an avalanche that Dana Stabenow makes frighteningly real.

The plot of the book provides a vehicle for exploring life in a very small bush town. Kate has to dig through the things people would like to keep secret, the histories they hide, the passions they disguise, the failings that are usually politely ignored unless show more someone turns up dead.

The spree-killer at the start of the book, who goes from homestead to homestead, shooting everyone he can find, pulls out a darker aspect of Alaska, which is famous for attracting the strange loners. The way Kate and Mutt bring him down is also a lesson in Alaska. Here you can't wait for the police to arrive. You have to act, and it you're Kate Shugak, you have to do more than protect yourself, you have to stop the killing. If you're Mutt, you have to do whatever it takes to keep Kate safe.

What really lifted the book above the norm for me was finding out more about Kate. It becomes clear that Kate is hiding out on her homestead, isolating herself so that she can get through life one day at a time after the trauma she's been through. It's equally clear that her former boss and many members of her community expect more of her. No-one is in the least surprised that it is Kate who takes down the killer at the beginning of the book and no-one objects when she is asked to investigate further.

Kate engages in the investigation reluctantly. It doesn't fill her with the joy of the hunt. . She understands and empathises with the weaknesses of the people around her and is mindful of their privacy. She is not motivated by enforcing the law. She acts to bring a natural justice that will restore people's ability to live as neighbours and to live with themselves.

By the end of novel, it's clear that Kate has started slowly to re-engage with the world, her culture and her community. Dana Stabenow captures this through a memorable and moving account of Kate at a Potlatch for the dead where she dances with an Elder and begins her own emotional thaw. show less

Private Detective Kate Shugak, a former investigator with the district attorney's office, lives on an isolated homestead in Alaska near Denali National Park. Local resident, Roger McAniff, has gone on a rampage, killing nine people before Kate can stop him. Ballistics tests prove Roger killed eight of the dead, but Lisa Getty was killed by someone else. Kate starts investigating who in Lisa's life might be motivated to kill her and discovers Lisa's secret life of drug dealing, promiscuity, and even poaching.

I really enjoy this series, especially because I lived in Alaska years ago and am familiar with many of the settings. The book also reintroduces some very unique characters including Bobby Wheeler, a wheelchair-bound veteran who show more hosts the Fifth Annual Twentieth Anniversary Celebration of the Tet Offensive. There are a lot of interesting glimpses of Native Alaskan culture, including a potlach, which is a community party filled with food and native dancing.

The ending wasn't a surprise but I enjoyed seeing how Kate was able to prove it. The setting was incredibly vivid. The story can be read as a standalone mystery even though it is second in the series. However much of Kate's history is revealed in book one. I've already picked up the next three books in the series and look forward to reading them. show less

Private Detective Kate Shugak, a former investigator with the district attorney's office, lives on an isolated homestead in Alaska near Denali National Park. Local resident, Roger McAniff, has gone on a rampage, killing nine people before Kate can stop him. Ballistics tests prove Roger killed eight of the dead, but Lisa Getty was killed by someone else. Kate starts investigating who in Lisa's life might be motivated to kill her and discovers Lisa's secret life of drug dealing, promiscuity, and even poaching.

I really enjoy this series, especially because I lived in Alaska years ago and am familiar with many of the settings. The book also reintroduces some very unique characters including Bobby Wheeler, a wheelchair-bound veteran who show more hosts the Fifth Annual Twentieth Anniversary Celebration of the Tet Offensive. There are a lot of interesting glimpses of Native Alaskan culture, including a potlach, which is a community party filled with food and native dancing.

The ending wasn't a surprise but I enjoyed seeing how Kate was able to prove it. The setting was incredibly vivid. The story can be read as a standalone mystery even though it is second in the series. However much of Kate's history is revealed in book one. I've already picked up the next three books in the series and look forward to reading them. show less

Book on CD narrated by Marguerite Gavin.

Book number two in the mystery series featuring Aleut private investigator Kate Shugack. This one starts with a bang, as a deranged serial killer goes on a rampage killing people at random. Kate (along with her trusty wolf-Husky mix, Mutt) stops the guy. Case solved. Or is it?

Stabenow writes a great thriller/mystery. I love the setting in a very rural part of Alaska, and the way she incorporates some Aleut culture into the mix. Kate is a very strong woman and a marvelous lead character. She’s intelligent, resourceful, determined, observant, and kind, but she does not hold back when toughness is required. It’s no wonder she’s earned the trust of not only the authorities, but also the village show more residents and tribal elders. And I just love Mutt!

Marguerite Gavin does a great job of performing the audiobook. Her diction is clear and she sets a good pace. show less

A mass murderer goes on the rampage in Niniltna but during the autopsies one of the victims is found to have been killed with a different gun from the others.

The descriptions of the Alaskan physical and social background are still what hold my interest rather than the actual mystery, though the characters are also starting to draw me in - primarily the main character, Kate, and her husky/wolf mix, Mutt, but also the supporting cast of Jack, Bobby, and Bernie.

I decided in late 2023 to do a re-read of the Kate Shugak series. I realized I hadn't noticed books 22 and 23 had been published, and wanted to savor the whole experience anew.

I love the protagonist for her tough yet caring, self-protective yet giving personality. Kate is deeply independent, yet she cares for her family and her people (she is Aleut), as well as being drawn into the lives of those she helps in her investigations. She is cool under fire, and still puts her life on the line for principal. Ten out of ten would recommend this series for both male and female readers. This series is more on the thriller side than mystery, but the details about life in the frozen north make the stories even more compelling aspect to show more consider.

This second book was published in 1993. Although the books are short by more modern standards, the cation is still thrilling, and the setting is still fresh. show less

I have read a couple of Kate Shugak mysteries before, and I thought they were decent. I remember her as a tough woman dealing with difficult men, among other things. I did not have her pegged as a typical heroine - 30-something, beautiful, tough, afraid of commitment. But that's what she is, based on this novel.

Because of my own ethics and standards, I found a couple of things irritating at best:

* Kate's female dog is not spayed. Kate does not want her having more puppies but she has not gotten her fixed. Is this that woodsperson thinking? That she is better at protecting Kate if she is "whole"? Does Kate think there is room for as many wolf-dog mix puppies as Mutt can create?

* Kate uses a choke collar sometimes. This is never show more acceptable. Train her, don't choke her. Sheesh.

* At one point Kate spoke disparagingly about another person by saying, "He's a vegetarian, for God's sake", or similar words. After all, who could like a vegetarian? A lot of animals could, for one.

Apart from these specific complaints I was not thrilled by all the references to Kate's sexual desirability. I think the writers of these female-lead mysteries have a hard time conceiving of a woman who is not beautiful as interesting enough. I can easily imagine it as far more interesting.

The story (at last): a man goes on a rampage with his new rifle, killing several people. After the dead land on the medical examiner's table, one of them turns out to have been killed by another gun. This one person, Lisa, turns out to have many enemies, mainly other women, and a shady past. Her life with her unattractive older sister raises other questions as well.

When Kate announced who the killer was I was not surprised. She says nobody should have been, and I suspect that's true of other readers as well. In the process of eliminating other options, Kate is shot at and another person is killed. It wouldn't be a thriller without the thrills. show less