Trespasser's publication date (June 21) is approaching which means that the book reviews are starting to come fast and furious. Today's review was by David Marshall James writing for Yahoo with a wicked, witty pen:
Maine's a mess, and so is Mike Bowditch.
It's "mud season"— Maine's version of "March Madness"— when winter pauses anxiously upon the doorstep of spring, with quick-melting snows, ice storms, and lots of slush on the roads.
As for Maine game warden Mike Bowditch, he's about as pulled-together as a men's-small parka on an NFL lineman.
Instead, the warden is fixated on getting to the bottom of a disappearance. Which turns into a murder case. Make that two murders. No, make those ... that's going far enough.
Bowditch stumbles into this mess when he is called to the scene of a one-car accident. Well, one car and a deer.
The deer's gone, and so is the driver.
Two problems that will tie together significantly.
Author (and magazine editor) Paul Doiron does a nice job of keeping his characters, setting, and plot au naturel. Everything about the novel seems decidedly real, which renders it all the more absorbing.
Doiron also thoughtfully addresses the in-the-moment decisions that can haunt a law-enforcement officer's conscience forever-- decisions for which the "collateral damage" can become dire, even tragic.
The author proves adept at making a half-dozen characters seem like plausible suspects in a thrilling mystery that's as solid as the rockiest point on the coast of Maine.
Not every review of your book is a pleasure to read (trust me), but this one definitely made me nod my head and laugh out loud.
