Flashback

It's been awhile since I've read a Nevada Barr novel and I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoy her stories. After just a few pages, I was reminded why she is one of my favorite authors. Park ranger Anna Pigeon has been transferred to Fort Jefferson on Garden Key, a small island fort that was used as a prison during the Civil War. Anna's great, great aunt Raffia was the wife of the Captain of the fort and Anna has the letters Raffia wrote home to her sister telling her about her life in the fort. While Anna investigates a boat explosion off shore, she is also deeply into Raffia's letters and the reader gets two good stories for the price of one. With some authors, landscape descriptions can be tedious and even annoying, but Barr is a master at this and her descriptions are so rich and real they transport the reader effortlessly to the places in the story. From diving amongst the coral reefs to walking the parade ground of the fort during the Civil War the stories unravel. The danger in Anna's and the danger in Raffia's world increase page by page until the suspense is almost unbearable. This book goes to the top of my Nevada Barr favorites list.

Barr really did a good job on this particular book. As other reviewers have said, it's nice to see her back on target with her books. What made this particular book so interesting is the background of this park, which I never even knew existed! It's a fortress built about 70 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida. Originally built to serve military purposes during the Civil War, but the war ended and so it's purpose was changed from a prison to house POWs from the Southern side, to house other more famous prisoners, including some of the men purported to have involvement in the killing of President Lincoln, including the doctor who set the leg of of Lincoln's assasin.As someone who is very into geneaology, history, old letters, and Lincoln because of being related to him by way of his wife, Mary Todd, this was an incredible historical find, and Barr has whetted my appetite to find out more about Dry Tortugas National park. It's definitely a place I want to visit.Anna Pigeon is as usual being her own worse enemy. No wonder she likes cats so much...her own curiousity and lack of fear get her into many of her scrapes. All to the good in this story, where she has to save not only herself and her friends in the park, but also rescue illegal immigrants from being slaughtered and taken advantage of. More examples of man's inhumanity to men...like we really need any more.Anna does finally learn to stop running away from another commitment to a good man because of what happened in her first marriage (her husband was killed in an accident in the first year or so).This book was a fast read, three evenings in spite of dissertation work. I hope to see more from Barr. She seems to have gotten a second wind, which is rare in series. As always the descriptions of the parks are phenomenal, as Barr knows what she is talking about.Karen Sadler

Don't let the slow beginning fool you. "Flashback" is the best Nevada Barr book since "Deep South." This time around, Anna, sans dog and erstwhile fiancee Paul, is stationed for a brief time on the Dry Tortugas--the southernmost point of the Florida Keys, and therefore of the United States.It should be a quiet, sleepy respite for Anna, who is filling in for the regular ranger--a man who has gone inexplicably mad. But then--where Anna goes, trouble follows, and this outing is no exception. In very short order, Anna, too, begins to fear she is losing her mind. There are ghosts that appear and disappear, flashing lights that cannot be, noises that may or may not be real, and the reality of the spooky Civil War fort that makes up the national park may just serve to take Anna's sanity away for good.Told against this very interesting backdrop is another story entirely--that of Anna's ancestor Raffia Coleman, wife of the Civil War Union commander of the fort, which in those days housed Confederate prisoners, not the least of whom was the notorious Dr. Mudd, accused of helping to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Through a series of letters written by Raffia (and sent to Anna by her sister Molly), a dark and brooding mystery unfolds. Although this device has been used by other others, most notably by Anita Shreve (in "The Color of Water"), it in no way detracts from the interesting juxtaposition between Civil War times and the all-too-frightening present.As Anna hallucinates between dreams of her great great aunt's letters and the strange goings-on of the present, the reader becomes rivited. When Barr is on, she is really on--and this book proves the point. A tragic murder of the past, and a deeping mystering of the present all entertwine to make Anna struggle for her wits and her sanity.A good, solid yarn. Welcome back, Nevada Barr and Anna!

I've been a fan of Nevada Barr's books--especially the last ones about the Natchez Trace Parkway and Glacier Park in Montana for many years, and this one is sure a winner! There is certainly never a "down time" in her books. Anna Pigeon, the National Park Service Ranger, goes from one perilous adventure to another. I especially liked the way that she wove two stories together--one from the Civil War days at this fort and one from modern times. These two different stories "met" at the end of the book in a satisfying way. I especially liked the setting of this book. Dry Tortugas National Park is a place that I've never heard of before, but I feel now as though I've actually been there. Her descriptions were that good! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery, a good thriller, historical fiction, or just a good read.