Massacre Pond

Massacre Pond, author Paul Doiron’s fourth novel starring game warden Mike Bowditch, is the best yet in the series. But then I say that about each book. Each book is unique but they are all riveting, and watching Mike grow and mature and stumble and struggle makes for a satisfying, fulfilling read each and every time.

Mike is 26 now, still young but with more experience under his belt, working hard to play inside the lines more. His reputation precedes him, however, and most of the time it seems his superiors are just waiting for him to get himself into the trouble that will be the final straw. And even though he’s grown both personally and professionally, at his core he is still that unique young man who is Mike Bowditch. As a show more reader, I don’t really want him to stop making those waves that make him who he is.

Professionally, even though he’s first on the scene of a calculated moose slaughter that seems to be politically motivated and has more than the skills necessary to investigate and solve the crime, that reputation of his causes him to be sidelined. Based on past history we know how that will work out. His friend’s freedom is at stake, and when there is a human murder to add to the killing of the moose Mike can’t help but follow his instincts and do all he can to find out who is behind this.

Personally, even though she is now engaged to someone else, and even though in his own words he acknowledges she “wasn’t the most beautiful woman I’d ever met, or the most emotionally grounded, and God knows she wasn’t the nicest” he admits to getting “googly-eyed” when she is near. It’s funny and touching and poignant. We not only want Mike to have great success as a game warden but to get the girl.

Each book is a little Maine history lesson; author Doiron takes a nugget from real-life Maine events and weaves it into a first-rate suspenseful, tense, thrilling mystery. If you’ve never been to Maine, you’ll be packing your bags after reading a couple of books in the series to see for yourself the harsh, beautiful, forbidding, magnetic lakes and rivers and forests and woods that Doiron so wonderfully, lovingly describes.

This is truly a series that gets better with each book: the setting, the atmosphere, the fast-paced action and danger, and the irresistible nature of Mike Bowditch and the characters that surround him. Recommend you start at the beginning of the series and read through. show less

The Mike Bowditch series has matured with each new volume. In this one, set in the autumn in the far north of Maine, Paul Doiron uses the real life battle going on over the eventual disposition of hundreds of thousands of acres of land currently owned by a private party and her desire to turn the area into a wilderness park where hunting, logging, and other current activities will be prohibited. It's a game warden's nightmare trying to walk the tightrope of emotions generated by both sides of the fight.
From the book cover:

On an unseasonably hot October morning, Bowditch is called to the scene of a bizarre crime: the corpses of seven moose have been found senselessly butchered on the estate of Elizabeth Morse, a wealthy animal rights

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activist who is buying up huge parcels of timberland to create a new national park. What at first seems like mindless slaughter, retribution by locals for the job losses Morse's plan is already causing in the region, becomes far more sinister when a shocking murder is discovered and Mike's investigation becomes a hunt to find a ruthless killer. In order to solve the controversial case, Bowditch risks losing everything he holds dear: his best friends, his career as a law enforcement officer, and the love of his life.

Bowdoin is now living alone in a run down trailer provided by the warden service. His friend Billy Cronk (a rather scurrilous dude given to trying to stay one step ahead of arrest) is somehow involved in this whole fiasco, testing his loyalties and making Mike's job more precarious then ever.  Bowditch is still a flawed character, but Doiron has managed to grow him into the hearts of readers of the series.  We're all now rooting for Mike to develop into the mature nature lover he show signs of becoming.

Doiron's bold and precise descriptions of the Maine woods add another dimension to these stories that keep readers coming back.  I wasn't sure after the first two, Poacher's Son, and  Trespasser, that I was overly thrilled with this character, but he's really grown on me.  This one is a definite winner, and the best yet in the series.  It's definitely worth a look. show less

Better than the previous two books, with some interesting supporting characters, and the inklings of maturity germinating in Mike. He's still plenty impetuous and self righteous, but in a more entertaining way. And gotta love a guy who sees someone's head get blown off and is all "meh" about it, but treats someone shooting some furry cows without a hunting permit as the worst crime in state history.

Paul Doiron novels are one of my staples. I love the wilderness setting in rural Maine. Mike Bowditch is a perfectly frakked up hero I can not only relate too, but that I care about. This kid needs a break. I always look forward to checking in on his life. Doiron has created the type of character that has literally walked off the pages. His plots are fresh and well thought out. This is a series to be enjoyed.

October so far has been unseasonably warm in Maine and Game Warden Mike Bowditch wonders what exactly is going on because nature certainly isn't behaving herself. Neither is man because Bowditch's friend Billy Cronk has found a nightmare at the expansive estate of Elizabeth Morris where he works. Ms. Morris is incredibly wealthy and has been quietly buying in significant numbers various adjoining parcels of land. In a highly controversial move she has fenced off the land, evicted those who lived there and didn’t have land rights, and announced her intention and desire for the entire area to become a national park. The backlash from the timber industry and others who need the jobs and income that access to the land provides has been show more intense.

It is one thing to write a hate filled letter promising death and worse to Ms. Morris. It is another to get past her fences and gates and gun down a moose. At least a poacher would have taken the meat. Whoever did this didn’t bother to take the meat and instead left it to rot in the woods. The first dead moose that he leads Game Warden Mike Bowditch to is the not the only one Billy discovered dead and left to rot. What Billy found is just the first of several moose that were senselessly slaughtered in what will become a legendary crime for the Warden service as well as a major media incident.

Award winning author Paul Doiron once again takes readers on a suspenseful mystery ride in the Maine woods. As he did from the very beginning with The Poacher's Son he combines a powerful mystery with the actions and duties of the men and women whose job it is to protect nature in all its forms from the misuse and abuse of mankind. Much like what C. J. Box has done for Wyoming; Paul Doiron has done for Maine through four very good books to date.

At its core Massacre Pond is an intense mystery that has human as well as animal victims. The massacre of the moose is just the first point of a complex case that will result in a number of deaths and complications as other events come to light. Human frailty is a major point in the book through primary and secondary storylines, as is economics, politics, and access to power thanks to money and social standing. These Maine woods may be lovely, dark, and deep, but they also are full of danger in many different ways.

Massacre Pond
Paul Doiron
http://www.pauldorion.com
Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Publishing Group)
http://www.minotaurbooks.com
July 2013
ISBN#978-1-250-03393-2
Hardback (available in e-book and audio)
315 Pages
$24.99

Material Supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013 show less

Browsing the library shelfs sometimes paysoff big time, and in the case of this Maine based story with Warden Bowditch featuring the beauty of the State of Maine intertwined with the horrible slaughter of 10 moose, the zeal of a powerful woman's desire to built a new national park, and the desperate greed of a desperate man this is a terrific read that only makes the reader anxious to find the next in the series. Paul Doiron, no stranger to awards for his writing, sends me to my local bookstore to bring home a few more of Paul Doiron's great reads.

3.5 stars. No huge surprises from the plot or the characters, but the writing is solid and Doiron gets backwoods Maine right. It's a fun place to spend some time.