Paul Doiron

For the next three weeks I'm participating in Barnes & Noble's First Look book club. It's an online discussion of The Poacher's Son with a select group of volunteers who were sent advance galleys of the book. Each week the group reads a series of chapters (they're up to Chapters 8 through 18) and posts reactions to the characters, story, and issues raised by the novel.

The conversation has been going on since the beginning of March so I'll be showing up fashionably late. This week my excellent and perspicacious editor Charlie Spicer will also be there.

Unless you're part of the club and were selected to get an advance reader's copy of my novel, I'm afraid you can't post questions or replies to the board, but you can eavesdrop on the discussion. One word of warning, though: The Poacher's Son is a mystery and I expect that as readers near the final chapters, the ending will become a hot topic. So if you don't want to see a spoiler that ruins the novel's surprises (and I'd rather you didn't), I suggest you browse carefully.

I haven't blogged much yet about The Poacher's Son because very few people have read it at this point, and I think there will be time enough for me to talk about the book after it finally gets into bookstores. That said, in addition to the early reviews, my novel has started to get other mentions as more advance galleys make the rounds. This one, from Chris Vaccari, at Library Journal, really made my week.

I also picked up a great new mystery, Paul Doiron's The Poacher’s Son. A Maine game warden navigates strained relationships with the woman he loves and his father, who has been suspected of murder. Think Skink from Hiaasen’s books except as a mean, alcoholic, manipulative troublemaker. OK, maybe don’t think Skink—Skink is fun. This guy ain’t. Anyways, you’ll feel like there’s a black bear in the room while you chase through the woods to find a man who may or may not be getting framed.

I’ve never been to Maine, but now I feel like I have. Twigs were cracking underneath my feet as I settled in to read this one. Doiron creates great scenery to surround an impressive debut. Well done, sir.

Being compared to Carl Hiassen in any way shape or form is pretty cool, I have to admit.

Following up on Monday's post, it seems that Sanibel Island has a very complicated history with alligators, at once noble and tragic.

American alligators were widely poached in Florida until the 1960s, but their numbers have rebounded to the point where the state has to actively mediate human interactions with the more than 1 million gators residing in Florida. Still, you'd think a word to the wise should be sufficient.

Evidently not according to this sign on Sanibel Island.