Winter Study

Anna Pigeon leaves Mississippi for a short-time assignment at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. She joins a research team that studies the winter wildlife population and a rather obnoxious Homeland Security representative. The researchers believe winter park closure remains a necessity for biodiversity while Homeland Security would like to see the park opened year-round to visitors.It isn't long until a death occurs. They spot some paw prints that don't match any known wildlife, but paired with a possible sighting of an irregular animal that, from a distance, appears to possibly be a wolf-moose cross-breed, the group knows they need to be cautious. One female graduate student goes missing and is later found dead. It appears show more she was attacked by wolves. This doesn't quite add up for Anna so she begins a secret investigation and finds a secret spot to stash her evidence. Another person eventually goes missing. It's a locked room puzzle in a survival-type atmosphere. The story's multiple layers add tension and interest. While this wasn't my favorite in the series, mainly due to a disturbing sexual predator scenario discovered in the course of the investigation by Anna, it was a solid installment. I listened to the audiobook read by Barbara Rosenblat who does a good job with the series. show less

Winter Study was my first Anna Pigeon book, but it won't be my last. It was a suspenseful thriller that hooked me from the first page. When Anna, a US Park Ranger, joins a research team for a chilly—and when I say chilly, I mean freezing—week at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior in the dead of winter, she has no idea it will be the most challenging assignment of her career. The wolves are magnificent—and frightening—but are nothing compared to her two-legged companions. Soon strange things start happening; then, a researcher goes missing. As Anna tries to fit in and be helpful, she grapples for survival, first against the deadly cold, then against a deranged killer. The vivid descriptions of how complicated life can be show more in the icy wilderness were fascinating. Note to self—never, never go camping in the snow. show less

This is another in the Anna Pidgeon series. Anna, a National Park Service agent, joins a research team that is studying the odd behavior of a pack of wolves on a remote Michigan island. After one team member turns up dead and another goes missing, Anna must determine which of the other team members is the perpetrator of some pretty grisly acts.

I am no doubt reading these novels out of order, since I am at the mercy of the availability at my small-town library. Therefore, I'm giving this author the benefit of the doubt, regarding some pretty remarkable similarities between this book and the last of hers that I read, High Country. One scene in particular, if you throw in a bit more snow, was almost exactly the same and it was an important show more scene!

I generally like these novels, but the repetition of that bit of narrative really put me off. I'm not sure if I'll continue reading the series. show less

I requested this book for one reason: it's about Isle Royale National Park. It's the second-closest National Park to me (after Voyageurs), but I've never been there. And I don't plan on going there until I am in the proper shape to make the most of it. It's sort of what I'm aiming for in all of the hiking around Minnesota. It's the capstone course, the top step, the wilderness trek to end all wilderness treks. In the Minnesota area, that is.

Isle Royale is the largest island in Lake Superior. It is accessible by boat from the North Shore of Minnesota, and is 100% backcountry. Once you're past the visitors center, you're on your own. It's about as pure as accessible wilderness is these days in the US. It is closed to visitors during the show more winter - so that researchers can learn about the delicate balance between wolves and moose on the island. (Lake Superior very rarely will freeze over - so it is basically a captive society with no new blood for decades on end.) This is where we find Anna Pigeon, a National Park Service Ranger. She is joining the small group of scientists for the Winter Study of moose and wolves for six weeks in the middle of a lake, in the middle of nowhere.

Four men and three women: a jolly old bush pilot, dedicated researchers, a graduate assistant with a secret, a Homeland Security agent (whose goal is to bring an end to the program and militarize part of the park)...and Anna. All living in a small bunkhouse with barely enough room to turn around. Then you add the mysterious behavior of the moose and wolves - including a wolf that leaves tracks twice the size of that of a normal wolf...and bite marks twice the size of a normal wolf, too. Then people begin to disappear. Trapped on a frozen island in the middle of the world's largest lake, Anna knows that she's in danger and need to figure out who she can trust.

What's everyone's motivation? Why are people disappearing? How could they survive in the wilderness without shelter? Who is out to put an end to the Winter Study...and to Anna Pigeon's life?

I'm not a big mystery reader, and I particularly am not a suspense fan. But I really enjoyed this book. I loved Anna Pigeon's character. She's a middle-aged ranger who is strong and intelligent. She definitely doesn't fall into the stereotype of being the Quirky Spinster Detective. I loved the setting, felt creeped out at the creepy parts, and found myself working out the mystery in my head along with Anna.

I'll definitely read more of her books. Actually, I'll probably pick up the first one and start from there. Each one takes place in a different National Park. Actually, I can't believe I've never read one of her books before. I really look forward to reading more of them. show less

Book 14 of Anna Pigeon. Takes place on one of the Great Lakes, bordering Canada. Anna is there in winter to help out with a research study. Descriptions of how bitterly cold it is are great. Descriptions of the members of the research team are also very evocative - it was fun to hate the big burly guy. Crime was kind of hard to read about, but it was very well put together. Again, pretty unlikely that everything would fall together just the way it did. Liked how Anna maintained her Rangery-ness.

Winter Study by Nevada Barr is the fourteenth Anna Pigeon mystery and the first one I've listened to as read by Barbara Rosenblat. Anna has returned to Lake Superior (see also A Superior Death, this time in winter time, to help with the tracking of the wolves. The program is under scrutiny and it might be the last winter season to run the program.

Barr's descriptions of the brutality of winter on Lake Superior are chilling (excuse the pun). Here the weather forces the usual recalcitrant Anna to work with her cohorts, and worse, follow their lead. Unfortunately for her, the close knit family dynamic has been upset by the inclusion of both Anna and a pair of scientists from Homeland Security.

Almost immediately it's obvious that things on show more Isle Royale are out of kilter. The wolves are acting strange and winter starvation is taking its toll on the moose population. Anna begins to imagine the island being haunted by the windigo and evidence of larger than normal wolf prints give credence to her daydreams. Within these scenes, though, there are hints to what is actually going on. An observant reader will figure out the pieces. The danger created by the weather as well as close confinement, will compel the reader to continue, though.

Winter Study was one of the most difficult audios I've listened to for its graphic depiction of violence. There are some gory descriptions of the blood against the snow that are both poetic and stomach churning — especially when listened to.

But it's tactfully done and an essential part of the story. It needs to be there to understand the actions Anna and the others take at the end of their time on Isle Royale. show less

Back in olden times, before my spouse gave me a kindle, most of my reading involved books she had read and judged worthy to pass along. At one time or another, virtually all of the Nevada Barr novels involving Ranger Anna Pigeon were passed along to me, including this one. For some reason, my spouse got it into her head that I should re-read this particular book. Something about extreme cold, I think. Being a dutiful spouse, I acceded to her request.

In this book, Anna Pigeon is posted to Isle Royal, a national park in the extreme north of Lake Superior, during the winter when the park is shut down to outside visitors. The park service and some academic scientists have been studying the wolf and moose populations on the island for some show more fifty or so years. The place is so isolated that no new animals can be introduced to the populations already extant. But for some reason, Homeland Security would like to shut down the wolf study and open the park year round. They seem to think that a few scientists are less likely to notice and repel invading terrorists from Canada than will a bunch of winter tourists. It sounds like complete nonsense to me, but then Homeland Security was the brainchild of G. W. Bush, one of the stupidest Presidents ever, so the plot point is vaguely plausible. Anyway, one of the people involved in the study is an alleged academic who is Homeland Security's plant to learn enough about the study to allow them to shut it down and open the park to whomever wishes to travel there.

It's cold as crap all the time. There appears to be an alleged sighting of some kind of super wolf in a couple of instances. There seems to be some DNA in scat samples that is incompatible with any of the wolves who have lived in the park for the past 50 years. There is a chicken-shit pervert among the crew who loves to molest and rape inert woman, either dead or drugged. Anna faces multiple near-death experiences, but lives to tell about it. And so forth. Lots of excitement. Too many bodies for me these days and a rather morally ambiguous ending. My recollection is that I've had rather a fondness for the Anna Pigeon novels, but this one left me wondering if Barr hadn't jumped the shark when she got to this book. Perhaps this is as good as my dimming memories of the others, and I'm just getting too old for carnage, perversion, and tales of dangerous beings/beasts which may actually exist. show less