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Mike Bowditch #6
The Precipice
In this riveting new novel from Edgar finalist Paul Doiron, Bowditch joins a desperate search for two missing hikers as Maine wildlife officials deal with a frightening rash of coyote attacks.
When two young female hikers disappear in the Hundred Mile Wilderness—the most remote stretch along the entire two-thousand mile Appalachian Trail—Maine game warden Mike Bowditch joins the search to find them. The police interview everyone they can find who came in contact with the college students and learn that the women were lovers who had been keeping their relationship secret from their Evangelical parents in Georgia.
When two corpses are discovered—the bones picked clean by coyotes—rumors spread that the women were stalked and killed by the increasingly aggressive canines. Faced with a statewide panic, Maine’s governor places an emergency bounty on every dead coyote, and wildlife officials are tasked with collecting the carcasses.
Despite some misgivings, Bowditch does his grisly job. But he finds his complacency challenged by his new girlfriend, the brilliant but volatile biologist Stacey Stevens, who insists coyotes merely scavenged the bodies after the women were murdered. When Stacey herself disappears on the outskirts of the Hundred Mile Wilderness, Bowditch realizes that locating her means he must also discover the truth behind what happened to the two hikers. Were the young women really killed by coyotes or, as Stacey insisted, were they murdered by the most dangerous animal in the North Woods?
When two young female hikers disappear in the Hundred Mile Wilderness—the most remote stretch along the entire two-thousand mile Appalachian Trail—Maine game warden Mike Bowditch joins the search to find them. The police interview everyone they can find who came in contact with the college students and learn that the women were lovers who had been keeping their relationship secret from their Evangelical parents in Georgia.
When two corpses are discovered—the bones picked clean by coyotes—rumors spread that the women were stalked and killed by the increasingly aggressive canines. Faced with a statewide panic, Maine’s governor places an emergency bounty on every dead coyote, and wildlife officials are tasked with collecting the carcasses.
Despite some misgivings, Bowditch does his grisly job. But he finds his complacency challenged by his new girlfriend, the brilliant but volatile biologist Stacey Stevens, who insists coyotes merely scavenged the bodies after the women were murdered. When Stacey herself disappears on the outskirts of the Hundred Mile Wilderness, Bowditch realizes that locating her means he must also discover the truth behind what happened to the two hikers. Were the young women really killed by coyotes or, as Stacey insisted, were they murdered by the most dangerous animal in the North Woods?
322 pages, Hardcover
First published June 16, 2015
704 people are currently reading
5328 people want to read
About the author
Paul Doiron
41 books2,208 followersPaul Doiron is the best-selling author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels set in the Maine woods.
His first book, The Poacher’s Son, won the Barry Award and the Strand Critics Award and was nominated for an Edgar for Best First Novel. His second, Trespasser, won the 2012 Maine Literary Award. His novelette “Rabid” was a finalist for the 2019 Edgar in the Best Short Story category. Paul’s twelfth book, Dead by Dawn won the New England Society’s 2022 Book Award for Fiction, as well as his second Maine Literary Award. It was also a finalist for the Barry Award. His books have been translated into 11 languages.
Paul is the former chair of the Maine Humanities Council, Editor Emeritus of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, and a Registered Maine Guide specializing in fly fishing.
His first book, The Poacher’s Son, won the Barry Award and the Strand Critics Award and was nominated for an Edgar for Best First Novel. His second, Trespasser, won the 2012 Maine Literary Award. His novelette “Rabid” was a finalist for the 2019 Edgar in the Best Short Story category. Paul’s twelfth book, Dead by Dawn won the New England Society’s 2022 Book Award for Fiction, as well as his second Maine Literary Award. It was also a finalist for the Barry Award. His books have been translated into 11 languages.
Paul is the former chair of the Maine Humanities Council, Editor Emeritus of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, and a Registered Maine Guide specializing in fly fishing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 555 reviews
March 25, 2015
I hope you enjoy it.
December 31, 2021
Two young female hikers go missing in the Hundred Mile Wilderness - a remote stretch of the Appalachian Trail. Mike Bowditch, a Maine game warden is called in to help look for them. Missing persons cases are never easy and this one proves to be very difficult. Mike is up against suspicions locals, a dangerous crime family that terrorizes locals, and the natural landscape itself.
I am a big fan of the Mike Bowditch series. I began the series at book 9. It was a pleasant surprise as I picked the book by the description not realizing it was part of a series. I was hooked and have read all book since then and decided to go back and give the earlier books a read/listen as I anxiously wait for book #13 come to out!
True to form, Mike Bowditch is a determined, strong, and intriguing character. He won’t quit until he gets answers. He also won’t back down. The search for the missing hikers was interesting and I was drawn in wondering what their fate would be. I'm with other reviewers who don't know what he sees in Stacy. She is annoying and quite frankly unnecessary in this book. She has a big mouth, doesn't know when to shut it and caused a lot of trouble. Mike is capable of figuring a lot of things out, but with her….not so much.
I enjoyed this book (Stacy aside) and it is fun looking back and reading the earlier books. Such a great series with great characters (Stacy aside) and great plots.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
I am a big fan of the Mike Bowditch series. I began the series at book 9. It was a pleasant surprise as I picked the book by the description not realizing it was part of a series. I was hooked and have read all book since then and decided to go back and give the earlier books a read/listen as I anxiously wait for book #13 come to out!
True to form, Mike Bowditch is a determined, strong, and intriguing character. He won’t quit until he gets answers. He also won’t back down. The search for the missing hikers was interesting and I was drawn in wondering what their fate would be. I'm with other reviewers who don't know what he sees in Stacy. She is annoying and quite frankly unnecessary in this book. She has a big mouth, doesn't know when to shut it and caused a lot of trouble. Mike is capable of figuring a lot of things out, but with her….not so much.
I enjoyed this book (Stacy aside) and it is fun looking back and reading the earlier books. Such a great series with great characters (Stacy aside) and great plots.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
September 13, 2015
Good series mystery with interesting info on the Appalachian Trail in Maine and Search-And-Rescue operations. Mike Bowditch is a very likable protagonist. This time out he's less impulsive as an law officer and I think more believable. The plot doesn't suffer for Mike to mature here, so there is still plenty of nail biting required to get to the end of the book.
March 19, 2016
I love all things Mike Bowditch and have read everything possible by author Paul Doiron. This series is one of my absolute favorites. I'm already perched on a branch waiting for the next one even if it is only swirling around in the mind of Doiron.
This latest one in the series is right up my alley with hiking at the fore. The story circles around two young women hikers in Maine who simply don't show up at the appointed time. Mike, Maine Game Warden, is assigned to cover the area in which the women were last seen. Bowditch, no predicated super hero, scales the rocky terrain as humanly as possible. Doiron has a gift for presenting Bowditch with his flaws and all. Bowditch can be short-tempered, impatient, and known for his hair-triggered decisions and actions. Doiron also creates brushstrokes of dedication, analytical genius, and sheer tenacity in his main character for which legions of readers can't get enough.
Everything clicks in The Precipice. Doiron's intricate descriptions of the area are outstanding. I appreciated the research he did about the causal factors in hiker disappearances of the past. There's just one element that left me a little high and dry.....that was the character of Stacy. C'mon, dear Doiron, she's a bit "out there" for our Mike or anyone for that matter. Stacy, in all respect, has a recall of something bad that had happened to her on the trail from years ago. As usual, her target is anyone or everyone in her line of vision. She'll never meet anyone half way, least of all Mike, whom she puts through such agony. Mike has a lot of baggage and issues. He doesn't have to hang his star on this one. Readers would like to see Mike with someone who compliments him on a higher scale...perhaps a new female warden who dogs the trail as well as Mike. Suffocating Stacy is not our choice as dedicated readers, Doiron.
Here's to many, many more Bowditch books in the future!
This latest one in the series is right up my alley with hiking at the fore. The story circles around two young women hikers in Maine who simply don't show up at the appointed time. Mike, Maine Game Warden, is assigned to cover the area in which the women were last seen. Bowditch, no predicated super hero, scales the rocky terrain as humanly as possible. Doiron has a gift for presenting Bowditch with his flaws and all. Bowditch can be short-tempered, impatient, and known for his hair-triggered decisions and actions. Doiron also creates brushstrokes of dedication, analytical genius, and sheer tenacity in his main character for which legions of readers can't get enough.
Everything clicks in The Precipice. Doiron's intricate descriptions of the area are outstanding. I appreciated the research he did about the causal factors in hiker disappearances of the past. There's just one element that left me a little high and dry.....that was the character of Stacy. C'mon, dear Doiron, she's a bit "out there" for our Mike or anyone for that matter. Stacy, in all respect, has a recall of something bad that had happened to her on the trail from years ago. As usual, her target is anyone or everyone in her line of vision. She'll never meet anyone half way, least of all Mike, whom she puts through such agony. Mike has a lot of baggage and issues. He doesn't have to hang his star on this one. Readers would like to see Mike with someone who compliments him on a higher scale...perhaps a new female warden who dogs the trail as well as Mike. Suffocating Stacy is not our choice as dedicated readers, Doiron.
Here's to many, many more Bowditch books in the future!
December 23, 2020
Some time has opened up for me to read physical books and I didn't want to waste this opportunity to whittle away at my physical bookshelves. After a couple of false starts, I realized I just wanted something entertaining and easy to read as I coast into Christmas, when I anticipate receiving some new additions to those shelves.
This book fit the bill. A game warden in Maine becomes involved in the search for two women who have gone missing as they neared the end of their Appalachian Trail through-hike. Did they leave voluntarily or has something sinister happened to them?
The Precipice is a genuine page turner. It's well constructed, with plenty of plot twists and capably developed characters. The descriptions of the Adirondacks in Maine and the small local communities set a great background for the events. No dry spots; it held my attention all the way through.
The writing was above average, even if not brilliant. A blurb on the cover says that Doiron is "shaping up as the Tony Hillerman of the east". To me, that's an overstatement. The writing is clunky in places (particularly when the author is trying to tie in the backstories of the continuing characters), and there are WAY too many brand-name references. They don't add much color to the story if you aren't already the kind of outdoorsman who would know the differences among manufacturers of esoteric gear.
But those are really small quibbles. If you are interested in an outdoorsy version of a police procedural, you'd probably enjoy this.
This book fit the bill. A game warden in Maine becomes involved in the search for two women who have gone missing as they neared the end of their Appalachian Trail through-hike. Did they leave voluntarily or has something sinister happened to them?
The Precipice is a genuine page turner. It's well constructed, with plenty of plot twists and capably developed characters. The descriptions of the Adirondacks in Maine and the small local communities set a great background for the events. No dry spots; it held my attention all the way through.
The writing was above average, even if not brilliant. A blurb on the cover says that Doiron is "shaping up as the Tony Hillerman of the east". To me, that's an overstatement. The writing is clunky in places (particularly when the author is trying to tie in the backstories of the continuing characters), and there are WAY too many brand-name references. They don't add much color to the story if you aren't already the kind of outdoorsman who would know the differences among manufacturers of esoteric gear.
But those are really small quibbles. If you are interested in an outdoorsy version of a police procedural, you'd probably enjoy this.
March 29, 2015
When two women go missing while hiking a difficult part of the Appalachian Trail, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch helps in trying to determine where the women were last seen. Mike then finds himself embroiled in the search and discovers there are no shortage of people whose behaviors make them suspicious. With a great sense of place, a puzzle that keep the reader guessing, and a main character that you can't help but empathize with, The Precipice is another home run for Doiron. Give to readers who love C.J. Box and Craig Johnson.
June 2, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this 6th book in Paul Doiron's "Mike Bowditch series!
July 11, 2015
What a disappointment. The first four books in this series were well-written, so I thought it was a fluke that the fifth book was so aimless, boring, and sexed-up. Well, this one, the sixth in the series, was a mess. First, Stacey, the love of the main character's life, is chronically pissed off and filled with righteous indignation at anyone she disagrees with (including Mike, the main character). She is so unlikeable, you never root for her or her relationship with Mike. Second, every Christian character is a negative stereotype (pompadour hair, judgmental, crazy, perhaps even a serial killer). When Stacey sees a minister at a distance she immediately assumes he judges her and sentences her to hell. The fact is they haven't met, so who knows what he is really thinking. Funny how Doiron doesn't point out how judgmental Stacey is of Christians. Third, there is a homosexual thread throughout that seems to serve no purpose other than letting the author show his lack of prejudice. Finally, there were too many subplots that didn't get resolved that the final reveal fell flat.
June 7, 2016
First off I have to comment and say that the fact that sexuality was brought up involving some of the characters did not brother be. In fact, it is almost kind of expected that this would appear more and more in books as it already does in my television shows. So you could say I have grown immune to this although it is not my faith. No, my issue was that despite actually liking Mike and his relationship with his girlfriend, Stacey, and the lovely backdrop for this story, I really felt no connect towards the missing women and therefore was not as invested in what happened to them or how the story would end.
In fact, I found the story to move along at a slow and steady pace without a lot of heightened intensity. So for almost of the middle of the story for me it seemed to grow stale. The last four chapters is when the story really came together and picked up speed.
In fact, I found the story to move along at a slow and steady pace without a lot of heightened intensity. So for almost of the middle of the story for me it seemed to grow stale. The last four chapters is when the story really came together and picked up speed.
October 7, 2018
Maine, murder and the Appalachian Trail - a good combination. A new author for me, love the locale but the story was just so so. I’ll try one more in the series.
Best description in the whole book “His hair, styled in a pompadour, was the color of spun gold, and his skin had an orange cast that was meant to look naturally tan but failed to do so.” LOL, just one of the characters but oh so familiar!
Best description in the whole book “His hair, styled in a pompadour, was the color of spun gold, and his skin had an orange cast that was meant to look naturally tan but failed to do so.” LOL, just one of the characters but oh so familiar!
October 29, 2022
Reading the novels by this author are like hiking a nature trail with a forensic investigator and an outdoor enthusiast. It’s so easy to picture the scenery surrounding the principle players with the descriptive writing about the foliage, animal life, and fauna. And yet, there’s an appreciation for the dangers that can coexist with nature.
The backdrop for this novel is the northernmost portion of the Appalachian Trail as it winds through Maine. Two female hikers, both recent college graduates 🎓, are hiking the AT before starting the next chapter in their lives, missionary work in Africa. But fate has other plans for these women. Game warden Mike Bowditch is part of a gargantuan effort to find these hikers who disappeared 10 days earlier. Are the women dead or alive? Have they fallen victim to the dangers on the AT: wild dogs, coyotes, or other “hikers”?
The backdrop for this novel is the northernmost portion of the Appalachian Trail as it winds through Maine. Two female hikers, both recent college graduates 🎓, are hiking the AT before starting the next chapter in their lives, missionary work in Africa. But fate has other plans for these women. Game warden Mike Bowditch is part of a gargantuan effort to find these hikers who disappeared 10 days earlier. Are the women dead or alive? Have they fallen victim to the dangers on the AT: wild dogs, coyotes, or other “hikers”?
June 22, 2025
After taking a year off from this series I raced back in through The Precipice. As someone who currently isn’t thinking of anything but hiking the plot of this book had me glued to it from the first page. Took me just over a day to finish this. Can’t wait to get in to number 7 soon.
January 29, 2019
This is my first book by this author and it fell pretty flat. I did finish it although a couple of times I almost quit. Not a thriller by any stretch of the imagination. It starts and stays pretty slow.
The reader never gets a sense of the missing hikers so we never emotionally get attached and care what happened to them...it’s a more mild intellectual curiosity. The author emphasizes that they were good Christian girls who were lesbians (which really had nothing to do with the plot so I wasn’t sure why it was included).
It includes a couple obvious red herrings. But overall, you don’t guess the killer because you don’t really get exposed to him. But the reader gets exposed to a number of people on the periphery of the story who really are unnecessary to the story, including numerous Christians who are shown as a prejudiced, judgmental fanatics.
The narrator is a Mike Bowden, a game warden, who is helping in the search (he seems to go well beyond his authority). His girlfriend Stacy (a super judgmental, emotional bitch) decides to jump in and help. She ends up getting mad at one point and marches off on her own to investigate. She leaves her cell behind and tells no one what she is doing. Mike leaves his assignment to tromp around looking for her. This gets a bit tedious. The way the book is written the reader never develops a relationship with any of the characters so we care less what happens to any of them...and the hikers...it was as if they became an afterthought.
Overall, this mystery was all over the map with way too many people and not enough mystery or action.
The reader never gets a sense of the missing hikers so we never emotionally get attached and care what happened to them...it’s a more mild intellectual curiosity. The author emphasizes that they were good Christian girls who were lesbians (which really had nothing to do with the plot so I wasn’t sure why it was included).
It includes a couple obvious red herrings. But overall, you don’t guess the killer because you don’t really get exposed to him. But the reader gets exposed to a number of people on the periphery of the story who really are unnecessary to the story, including numerous Christians who are shown as a prejudiced, judgmental fanatics.
The narrator is a Mike Bowden, a game warden, who is helping in the search (he seems to go well beyond his authority). His girlfriend Stacy (a super judgmental, emotional bitch) decides to jump in and help. She ends up getting mad at one point and marches off on her own to investigate. She leaves her cell behind and tells no one what she is doing. Mike leaves his assignment to tromp around looking for her. This gets a bit tedious. The way the book is written the reader never develops a relationship with any of the characters so we care less what happens to any of them...and the hikers...it was as if they became an afterthought.
Overall, this mystery was all over the map with way too many people and not enough mystery or action.
July 19, 2020
Two women, college students, have disappeared in Main's Hundred Mile Wilderness of the Appalachian Trail. Are they alive and lost? Or dead? If so, did they fall from a cliff, been attacked by wild animals, been murdered by a serial killer?
Warden Mike Bowditch joins search and rescue amid a cast of flawed characters. He's partnered with a hiking legend, an insufferable ex-felon. He meets other creepy characters, including a family clan noted for terrorizing locals. After the bodies of the two women are found, Bowditch's girlfriend, a wildlife biologist, gets involved with her own ideas about guilt and innocence.
Various individuals act suspicious, enticing us, like Bowditch, to speculate over who is guilty. Danger increases, and I'm hoping the chilling family members of the lawless clan will be held accountable. Drama reaches a high point, and the ending delivers a surprise, along with satisfaction.
While reading, I felt beset by the dangers of the trail and what may lurk in the woods--especially the creepy characters. I liked the nature references and would have liked more of the feel for the outdoors. Bowditch and his girlfriend were a bit too flawed for my taste. But that's because I'm old and they were a bit young for me. It's still a fine read, organized and containing some interesting people.
Warden Mike Bowditch joins search and rescue amid a cast of flawed characters. He's partnered with a hiking legend, an insufferable ex-felon. He meets other creepy characters, including a family clan noted for terrorizing locals. After the bodies of the two women are found, Bowditch's girlfriend, a wildlife biologist, gets involved with her own ideas about guilt and innocence.
Various individuals act suspicious, enticing us, like Bowditch, to speculate over who is guilty. Danger increases, and I'm hoping the chilling family members of the lawless clan will be held accountable. Drama reaches a high point, and the ending delivers a surprise, along with satisfaction.
While reading, I felt beset by the dangers of the trail and what may lurk in the woods--especially the creepy characters. I liked the nature references and would have liked more of the feel for the outdoors. Bowditch and his girlfriend were a bit too flawed for my taste. But that's because I'm old and they were a bit young for me. It's still a fine read, organized and containing some interesting people.
June 29, 2015
Maine game warden Mike Bowditch is called in from his beach vacation for search and rescue when 2 hikers go missing on the Appalachian Trail. two corpses are found and rumors start about wild coyotes on a rampage. Bowditch thinks a human is involved in the deaths, not coyotes.
I am so happy to find a wonderful author I had never heard of in Paul Doiron. I loved the outdoor scenes with Bowditch. I really like stories with game wardens and I'm so glad to learn there's a Bowditch series for me to go back and read. I loved this book and the new character I read about -- Bowditch.
I am so happy to find a wonderful author I had never heard of in Paul Doiron. I loved the outdoor scenes with Bowditch. I really like stories with game wardens and I'm so glad to learn there's a Bowditch series for me to go back and read. I loved this book and the new character I read about -- Bowditch.
December 13, 2019
This one’s full of get-under-your-skin terror. Hiking will not be on my list of activities for awhile...
October 26, 2020
This is the last of the three Doiron/Bowditch books my brother gave me for Christmas. These books are high on entertainment value and middling on inspiring prose. Mr. Doiron, who I assume lives fairly close to me in Mid-Coast Maine features serviceable prose and interesting, twisty plots salted with a lot of local(Maine) color. This book mostly takes place pretty far from my home town of Phippsburg, although the very beginning is set IN my home town, down on the waterfront at the mouth of the Kennebec River in a vacation village called Popham/Popham Beach. Two young female hikers have gone missing in the 100-mile wilderness on the Appalachian Trail(AT). This is well north of me and well inside the boonies. Lotta trees up there … For a different look at this specific area see "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. The 100-Mile Wilderness is where he and his hiking partner give up the ghost and the goal of making it to the top of Mt. Katahdin(I have hiked bits and pieces of the AT in Maine and New Hampshire, but only on day hikes). As Doiron points out, it's not as much of a wilderness as advertised since there's a sort-of major dirt road running through it. Oh well … As with his other books(or some of them at least) the author has based the tale on a real-life event that occurred further south on the AT a number of years ago: two young women were shot(one died), apparently after a local psycho got overly excited watching them making love. So far no lesbian angle as yet, but there are hints that it'll be coming along soon. As usual several juicy murderer candidates have been encountered. Who will it turn out to be? I have my eye on a certain someone, but the real killer(the bodies haven't been found yet, but the back cover blurb spoils THAT plot point - WHY do publishers DO that????) may not have showed his/her face yet.
And so to the murky ending, in which the plot(deliberately) does not achieve clarity. We think we pretty much know who did what, but it's not 100% clear. Oh well ... The author presents an unappealing picture of backwoods Maine in the depiction of the deviant, inbred, and crazy, criminal, murderous Dow family. Think "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" and "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts,"(both by Carolyn Chute) on steroids. Backwoods low-lifes have had a part in all three of the Bowditch books I've read. As always, the descriptions of the rugged physical environment of Maine is spot on as well. Some similarities emerged between this book and my last Bowditch read, "Tresspasser" = cell phones ... and a lanky, mysterious possible suspect in the background for most of the story.
- Two more heads get whipped around.
- The gay bomb finally gets dropped, thus linking this tale with the real-life event referred to above. The author acknowledges this in his end-notes.
- A solid entry into the Bowditch canon = 3.5* rounding down to 3*.
And so to the murky ending, in which the plot(deliberately) does not achieve clarity. We think we pretty much know who did what, but it's not 100% clear. Oh well ... The author presents an unappealing picture of backwoods Maine in the depiction of the deviant, inbred, and crazy, criminal, murderous Dow family. Think "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" and "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts,"(both by Carolyn Chute) on steroids. Backwoods low-lifes have had a part in all three of the Bowditch books I've read. As always, the descriptions of the rugged physical environment of Maine is spot on as well. Some similarities emerged between this book and my last Bowditch read, "Tresspasser" = cell phones ... and a lanky, mysterious possible suspect in the background for most of the story.
- Two more heads get whipped around.
- The gay bomb finally gets dropped, thus linking this tale with the real-life event referred to above. The author acknowledges this in his end-notes.
- A solid entry into the Bowditch canon = 3.5* rounding down to 3*.
Read
November 13, 2020Four stars! For most of the book it was a five star read but near the end it just went down. I enjoyed reading about the katy-dids and other little nature facts like that but the Dows got to be too vicious. It was a surprise ending for me.
December 31, 2021
Riveting! Another action-packed, tautly-plotted adventure. Mike Bowditch is a terrific hero & Paul Doiron a talented storyteller. I thoroughly enjoyed this, my last read/listen of 2021!
October 25, 2022
Great descriptions of Maine and the people. I enjoy Mike the game warden. Never easy solves
July 19, 2019
Somehow I missed this one on my read through the series and with the new book out now, I figured I better read the ones I missed. Being from the great state of Maine, it is always good to visit it again with my good friend Mike Bowditch. This one talks frequently of the Appalachian Trail (AT) of which I have read extensively and hiked a tiny bit of. The stories of through hikers and section hikers always make me wish I had hiked more and this was no exception. Thank you Paul for another excellent read!
October 19, 2017
finished this in the tree stand, 'bout five oh five pee em. it was okay. too much fashionable ideology for me. you into the fashion then this is your bag. might say one-dimensional, stereo-typical, and another case of, yeah, okay, we're all up on diversity and not denigrating the different, but here we can do so, in spades, or mainers, or "religious fanatics". leaves a sour taste, truth be told. all the more so when one realizes it is, indeed, the fashion. and you can note that in other reviews of this one as well as those like it. onward and upward.
August 9, 2024
Precipice
Mike Bowditch Series: Book 6
By Paul Doiron
Rating:
2 stars: didn’t really like it and will not read it again.
Summary:
If books 4 & 5 had strong, positive connotations toward Christianity, book 6 is the opposite. The elements are still heavy but more often than not it feels like a smear campaign.
The book felt kind of like book 2 but with less interesting plot twists and a lot less effort or conviction behind it. Please see spoilers at end for further analysis.
Highlights - The Good:
* Glad that Mike and Stacey are finally together though her lingering reticence of going all in with the relationship makes sense.
* Learning about Stacey’s wily, rascally nature left me grinning from ear to ear. Somehow the author took Charley’s enigmatic legendary reputation and successfully transplanted it into the actions and deeds of his daughter.
* I appreciated the author taking the time to say that certain individuals silenced their phones before going into a dangerous area.
* The town’s scumbags are well written and described from multiple fronts.
Highlights - The Meh:
* I’m sure it’s written for a certain lascivious audience in mind, but it seems like every description of a female includes a description of the size of their breasts as well. Not really my cup of tea in a book.
* The narrator of the audiobook lost some of his voice differentiation from previous books it seems like. It was hard to follow who was saying what.
* Why is it that all of the backwater, red neck, trailer trash miscreants of the series are as privy to laws as Bowditch is?
***Spoilers:
* 4 officers against a compound full of dangerous miscreants just to ask some questions to a kid with Down syndrome felt like a really bad call. I’m surprised only one of them was killed.
* Benton Avery was an obscure character at best throughout the novel. Apparently he was the man in the red tent. I guess the author succeeded in throwing me off the scent of the true criminal much like the Care Taker in book 2 “Trespasser”.
* Benton’s murders didn’t feel genuine. There wasn’t enough build up to his wicked genius profile to sell the idea that he killed the 2 girls and disguised it as coyotes.
* I didn’t enjoy Stacey going off like a lone wolf to the point of stupidity and then demand Bowditch to shoot the serial killer at end. It felt like bad writing to me.
* The ending felt super awkward, as if the author ran out of inspirational metaphors and aphorisms only to impart: “Always keep on living”.
* I acknowledge that the author uses misdirection constantly to throw the reader off of the real perpetrator(s) in each novel, but the fact that the 2 girls were Christian as well as lesbians had nothing to do with their murders, yet it was such a prominent plot element. It felt more like anti-Christian propaganda than an actual message or moral by the end.
Mike Bowditch Series: Book 6
By Paul Doiron
Rating:
2 stars: didn’t really like it and will not read it again.
Summary:
If books 4 & 5 had strong, positive connotations toward Christianity, book 6 is the opposite. The elements are still heavy but more often than not it feels like a smear campaign.
The book felt kind of like book 2 but with less interesting plot twists and a lot less effort or conviction behind it. Please see spoilers at end for further analysis.
Highlights - The Good:
* Glad that Mike and Stacey are finally together though her lingering reticence of going all in with the relationship makes sense.
* Learning about Stacey’s wily, rascally nature left me grinning from ear to ear. Somehow the author took Charley’s enigmatic legendary reputation and successfully transplanted it into the actions and deeds of his daughter.
* I appreciated the author taking the time to say that certain individuals silenced their phones before going into a dangerous area.
* The town’s scumbags are well written and described from multiple fronts.
Highlights - The Meh:
* I’m sure it’s written for a certain lascivious audience in mind, but it seems like every description of a female includes a description of the size of their breasts as well. Not really my cup of tea in a book.
* The narrator of the audiobook lost some of his voice differentiation from previous books it seems like. It was hard to follow who was saying what.
* Why is it that all of the backwater, red neck, trailer trash miscreants of the series are as privy to laws as Bowditch is?
***Spoilers:
* 4 officers against a compound full of dangerous miscreants just to ask some questions to a kid with Down syndrome felt like a really bad call. I’m surprised only one of them was killed.
* Benton Avery was an obscure character at best throughout the novel. Apparently he was the man in the red tent. I guess the author succeeded in throwing me off the scent of the true criminal much like the Care Taker in book 2 “Trespasser”.
* Benton’s murders didn’t feel genuine. There wasn’t enough build up to his wicked genius profile to sell the idea that he killed the 2 girls and disguised it as coyotes.
* I didn’t enjoy Stacey going off like a lone wolf to the point of stupidity and then demand Bowditch to shoot the serial killer at end. It felt like bad writing to me.
* The ending felt super awkward, as if the author ran out of inspirational metaphors and aphorisms only to impart: “Always keep on living”.
* I acknowledge that the author uses misdirection constantly to throw the reader off of the real perpetrator(s) in each novel, but the fact that the 2 girls were Christian as well as lesbians had nothing to do with their murders, yet it was such a prominent plot element. It felt more like anti-Christian propaganda than an actual message or moral by the end.
July 3, 2015
#6 in the Mike Bowditch series. Stacy Stevens, wildlife biologist and daughter of Mike's mentor, retired ranger Charley Stevens, has finally succumbed to Mike's blandishments and joined him for an expensive vacation on Popham Beach. The vacation doesn't last long as Mike is called to return to duty and join the hunt to find two girls missing from their trek on the Appalachian Trail. They have been missing too long to realistically hope for their safety and among those who might have been involved are Mike's search team partner Nonstop Nissen, a loner who once held the record for the fastest traverse of the AT. Others include Caleb Maxwell, a lodge owner who lied about his activities on the trail, McDonut, the trail name of a pathological liar, or any one or more of the Dow family, a clannish family of Maine hillbillies.
Mike Bowditch series - When two young female hikers disappear in the Hundred Mile Wilderness--the most remote stretch along the entire two-thousand mile Appalachian Trail--Maine game warden Mike Bowditch joins the search to find them. The police interview everyone they can find who came in contact with the college students and learn that the women were lovers who had been keeping their relationship secret from their Evangelical parents in Georgia. When two corpses are discovered--the bones picked clean by coyotes--rumors spread that the women were stalked and killed by the increasingly aggressive canines. Faced with a statewide panic, Maine's governor places an emergency bounty on every dead coyote. His girlfriend, the brilliant but volatile biologist Stacey Stevens, insists coyotes merely scavenged the bodies after the women were murdered. When Stacey herself disappears on the outskirts of the Hundred Mile Wilderness, Bowditch realizes that locating her means he must also discover the truth behind what happened to the two hikers.
Mike Bowditch series - When two young female hikers disappear in the Hundred Mile Wilderness--the most remote stretch along the entire two-thousand mile Appalachian Trail--Maine game warden Mike Bowditch joins the search to find them. The police interview everyone they can find who came in contact with the college students and learn that the women were lovers who had been keeping their relationship secret from their Evangelical parents in Georgia. When two corpses are discovered--the bones picked clean by coyotes--rumors spread that the women were stalked and killed by the increasingly aggressive canines. Faced with a statewide panic, Maine's governor places an emergency bounty on every dead coyote. His girlfriend, the brilliant but volatile biologist Stacey Stevens, insists coyotes merely scavenged the bodies after the women were murdered. When Stacey herself disappears on the outskirts of the Hundred Mile Wilderness, Bowditch realizes that locating her means he must also discover the truth behind what happened to the two hikers.
June 21, 2015
In his latest outing Mike Bowditch, a game warden in Maine gets involved in the disappearance of two young women who were hiking the Appalachian Trail. He hopes to find them still alive, but as the time since they were last seen grows longer he begins to think of bodies. Rumors of coyotes killing hikers surface, and though Mike cannot discount the possibility, there are other indications that perhaps humans are involved. Though the information about the environment and the trail in particular were quite interesting. I knew that hikers often could be divided into the thru hikers and day hikers and that parts of the trail were arduous, but Doiron added bits of knowledge to my understanding which I always appreciate. The mystery part was not as striking as some of the other entries in the series. I listened to the audio version read by Henry Leyva which took a bit of adapting on my part. I listen to books often but on my phone where I can adjust the reading speed so I am accustomed to a more rapid pace which negatively influenced me. In addition the affected Maine accent (which might be authentic, I am no judge) was disconcerting. The Precipice was enjoyable and I will certainly search out the next in the series when it appears.
November 14, 2015
Two girls hiking the Appalachian Trail went missing. Warden Bowditch was leading the search. There were all the small town characters to question. Nessin a local character watched some scavenger bird flying around. Bowditch ad his team found the remains of the two girls. Their deaths remained a mystery. Was it a human the caused their deaths or wild coyotes stalking them.
March 23, 2016
Why are religious folks so mystified by homosexuality? They scorn it and do it. This book covers both aspects along with swearing words like "cheese and crackers" - you name the silly-isms. I thought I would like this author but found I will not try another. My loss? Not at all....
June 20, 2015
I liked the book because I enjoyed the setting--the Maine woods. I am not a mystery reader--I rarely care who dunnit. But interesting characters and settings can make a book worth reading.
May 27, 2017
Book #6 was as good as the first 5, but there are two things that I still struggle with. The main character Mike Bowditch is a Maine game warden, and he's evolving and maturing as a character in each new entry. He's a truly a multi-faceted and engaging person. But in the course of his job, and therefore in each book, there are routinely examples of animals who are mistreated--trapped, poached, poisoned, etc. In this one there was a bounty on coyotes, who were rumored to have stalked and killed two young female hikers on the Appalachian Trail. The carnage that resulted from this false charge was hard to read. I'm not a fan of the species, but this was nasty. Mike, of course, is one of the law enforcement people who searches desperately for the lost hikers, along with other series regulars like the delightful old pilot Charley and his not at all delightful daughter Stacey with whom Mike is annoyingly in love. I flat out can't stand Stacey. And that brings me to the other thing I'm not loving about the series. I keep hoping she'll go the way of Sarah, Mike's first love and just leave, but she's stubbornly hung on for several books now and I'm beginning to fear she's going to be a permanent fixture. She's bull-headed, impulsive, moody, inconsiderate, and while I'll admit she usually means well and is a genuine animal lover, she treats her parents and even Mike like crap way too often. She has issues and some reason, but I don't care...she's tiresome. Naturally in this one her stubborn over-confidence and impetuous nature get her into trouble that she needs to be bailed out of. She does show some contrition and signs of an improved nature by the end, but she's still got a long way to go. Series is too good to let her deter me, and Mike seems to believe she's his soul mate, so I'm just going to have to hope she'll grow on me. We'll see. And, by the way, this was a darn good keep-you-guessing mystery. In my Stacey rant, I forgot to mention that.
May 4, 2022
Two missing persons on the Appalachian Trail is a pretty fair lead in to a good page turner. A game warden called away from a weekend getaway with his (apparently) headstrong girlfriend is also a decent hook. With these two elements, Paul Doiron got "The Precipice" off to a strong start. Unfortunately, momentum lagged as the plot unfolded. Maine and the AT (as they referred to the trail) made for interesting settings for this adventure. There were a lot of moving pieces that didn't always feel like they meshed together for a tight narrative. The main characters felt a little shallow or forced but that may be because I have jumped into a series where a lot of character development had taken place in previous editions so that might be on me. In any case, the plot moved along well enough to keep me interested in the outcome so I persevered. I thought the ending might have been unnecessarily complex but, again, this may be setting up some characters for installment #7. Overall, I would say "The Precipice" was good, not great, but the series may be worth looking at from book #1.
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