Borderline

THE SETUP Anna (a National Parks Service policewoman) is on vacation with her policeman/priest husband, Paul, in Big Bend National Park, Texas. After losing their raft while rafting down the Rio Grande, the group discover a dying pregnant woman. After her death, Anna performs an emergency cesarian to save the baby. As if things are not bad enough the river begins to rise, and the party leader is shot trying to climb to the canyon rim to phone for help. Even so, they are force to climb to the rim in the dark. At the rim they find, and scuffle with, a Texas Ranger, Freddy Martinez, assigned to the Park. In the meantime, Judith Pierson (the mayor of Houston, running for the Governorship) is having a political rally at the Park. Judith's husband announces that he is leaving her for his pregnant mistress. That's the setup. COMMENTS I am a voracious reader, reading over 100 novels/year. I have learned that there are fundamental differences between how men and women tell stories, even within the limited genre of action/mystery novels. Women, usually being more social and perceptive, are interested in the interpersonal relationships and emotional conflicts even of people they do not like. Men are generally interested only in characters with whom they can relate---who are like themselves, or like people they have known, or who are people they would welcome as friends, or characters they find sexually attractive. Women fill their lives with "secrets" about both friends and enemies. Men fill their lives with "useful information"--such as how to fix a refrigerator, and private emotions about the people they care about. Love, hate, jealousy, and revenge are the prime motivating factors in most novels by women. Personal honor, justice, greed, and lust are the prime motivating factors in most novels written by men. Novels by women are usually weak on plot. Novels by men are usually weak on character development. As a result, men are a difficult audience for female authors (moreso than the reverse). From a guy's point of view, "novels" written by some female authors are plotless stuctureless gossip-sessions (which some women may enjoy, but men do not). Regretfully, I (and I'm sure many other male readers) have learned to eschew many female authors. Although I would never suspect Nevada Barr to be male, she has a keen sense of plot and action and a good understanding of the male psyche. Indeed grown-up tomboy Anna's occasional difficulties in relating to the "girly" female world is something male readers readily relate to. Barr portrays emotions and personal conflicts convincingly and compellingly. Sometimes she dwells on "female angst", which female readers will appreciate and male readers can file away as "useful information". Although fictional, Barr's alter ego, Anna Pigeon, is a woman I would value as a friend--and that is true of many of Barr's characters. VERDICT With each successive novel Barr is getting better. In my opinion "Borderline" is her

Anna is still as cool as ever in this story, even tho she's aging like the rest of us. The only unfortunate aspect of this book is that I inhaled it so quickly I was done in 3 days! Now I have to wait that much longer for Nevada to write another one!

I found Borderline to be much more of a page-turner than the previous Anna Pigeon mystery, Winter Study. It was also less violent (a good thing). I have been a fan since the first book in the series and recommend reading them in order. Anna has indeed matured and grows more complex and interesting with each book. Nevada Barr is one of the few authors that I follow closely; I buy her books as soon as they come out and have never been disappointed.

We're long time fans of Nevada Barr and her noir park ranger Anna Pigeon. This book is a real page turner, well written and lots of action amid a beautiful national park. It is a welcome departure from the winter's Isle Royale nightmare adventures of Barr's prior book. The warmth of the Texas sun shines on Anna's darkened spirit as she manages another astonishing series of highly creative adventures, spiced with Texas politics, homage to women and children, and the mighty Rio Grande. Borderline is a good read.

I have to say I am a fan after reading my first Anna Pigeon novel. On a forced vacation after a violent incident in her last case, park ranger Anna and her husband, Paul, have signed on to a river rafting excursion in southwest Texas' Big Bend National Park, where the Rio Grande skirts the Texas-Mexico border. The adventure begun simply enough with a few college students and a capable guide, Anna and Paul are enjoying a short hiatus from their usual responsibilities. When a series of misjudgments leaves the raft at the mercy of a flooding river, the rafters are cast ashore with few provisions, their outing become suddenly more perilous. But when a sniper starts shooting at the party, the trip is run-for-your-life dangerous. Her professional instincts reawakened, Anna is challenged even more by the discovery of the body of a pregnant woman trapped in the debris of the Rio Grande. Horror-stricken, Anna delivers the woman's unborn baby, the tiny child awakening a maternal instinct in the pragmatic Anna that amazes her. But there is no time for personal indulgence, the child's life at risk as the stranded rafters desperately climb to safety in spite of the sniper. Nearly safe, Anna and Paul stumble upon another surprise, unsure if they face friend or foe. Clearly, in Barr's novels, expedience requires quick reactions. Anna must trust her survival instincts if she is to save herself, the infant and her companions. Meanwhile, a political rally in the park serves as a venue for Huston mayor Judith Pierson to announce her run for the governorship of Texas. A feisty and savvy politician, Pierson is a conservative Ann Richards, border issues high on her list of priorities. By Judith's side is ex-secret service agent Darden White. A long personal relationship with the mayor alerts Daren to Judith's every mood. Currently he fears there is trouble in paradise, Judith and her husband having difficulty hiding the rancor between them. Watching all with a trained eye, Darden is unnerved by Judith's actions, his concern exacerbated by the announcement of the fatal shootings and the rescue on the Rio Grande. Soon all are embroiled in a collision of political agendas and the safety of a newborn, a maze of personal agendas as opportunistic politics intrude on the environment's pristine beauty. Barr rises above petty political positions, creating nuanced characters and the grandeur of the Big Bend National Park, violence and revenge sharply contrasted against nature's stark indifference. The beauty of this untamed wilderness is all the more poignant for the trail of dead bodies in the wake of Anna's delivery of an innocent child. Anna Pigeon is a spunky protagonist, a woman who values herself and the world she inhabits. In this well-rounded character, a woman of her generation, Barr puts the human back in nature. Luan Gaines/2009.