The Maine Woods National Park Debate — One Year Later

The paperback edition of Massacre Pond hits stores today which seems as good a time as any to revisit of one of the inspirations for the book: the controversy surrounding a proposed Maine Woods National Park. The plan—which was briefly tabled in 2013— has received new life since my novel went to press.

While the idea remains toxic in certain communities (especially around Millinocket and East Millinocket), it is undeniable that the conversation has changed in tone over the past twelve months, due in large part to Lucas St.Clair, the son of environmentalist and philanthropist Roxanne Quimby.

St.Clair is a fishermen and bird hunter, and after becoming the new public face of the campaign, he has worked hard to change perceptions about his family's plans for the newly named Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area. The report his organization commissioned makes a strong case for the economic benefits of a federally managed preserve on the land east of Baxter State Park.

Meanwhile, the woods product industry continues to face an uncertain future in the Katahdin region. The owner of the former Great Northern Paper mill  entirely retooled its plans for the property, proposing to transform the facility into a steam-thermal pellet plant. The new facility would employ fifty workers: a far cry from the many thousands that were employed during the heyday of the Millinocket area mills.

Over the course of the most recent legislative session, St.Clair's renewed public relations efforts received pushback from business and other interests in Augusta. Park opponents introduced a bill in the Maine Legislature that would have made it all but impossible for the Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area to be turned over to the federal government — but the bill died in both the House and the Senate.

Whether that vote will eventually be viewed as a turning point in the debate remains to be seen. What is clear is that changes are overtaking the Maine North Woods more quickly than anyone — myself included— predicted. 

Kirkus Raves about The Bone Orchard

The review won't be online for a week, but Kirkus Reviews has pronounced judgment on my new novel, which many reviewers have already called the most action-packed in the series. Here's a teaser: 

Just because you’re done with the past doesn’t mean the past is done with you, as former Maine game warden Mike Bowditch discovers when his field training officer is shot virtually before his eyes....As Kathy [Frost] hovers in a coma between life and death, Mike gets down to business by doing what he does best: going head to head with everyone in sight....

The Bone Orchard is a key turning point in the Mike Bowditch saga. What happens to Kathy? What happens to Mike? You'll have the answers on July 15. 

The Bone Orchard Q&A

With the publication of The Bone Orchard approaching, I sat down with John Holyoke of the Bangor Daily News to answer some of his questions about the fifth book in the Mike Bowditch series. Here is a sample:

What was the inspiration for ‘The Bone Orchard’?

“With all of my books, I tend to draw inspiration from real-life events. In The Bone Orchard, there were two issues that were on my mind. The first was a statistic released in 2011 that showed that more Mainers had died, per capita, in the War in Afghanistan than residents from any other state. I realized that we have all of these veterans returning to Maine, and many of them had had traumatic experiences that none of us will ever fully understand. At the same time, there was a rash of police shootings in Maine, including one involving two game wardens near the VA hospital in Togus. I began to think about the tragic phenomenon of ‘suicide by cop’ incidents, and I began to wonder what would happen if one of my recurring characters — in this case, Sgt. Kathy Frost — was forced to shoot an Afghan vet who had been badly wounded and was suffering from PTSD. What might happen to her? What would be the fallout for the Warden Service?”

You’ve said you see Bowditch as a work in progress. How does this book help him continue on that journey?

“Without giving too much away — hey, I want to sell books — I can say that Mike Bowditch begins The Bone Orchard in a surprising place. He has left the Maine Warden Service after realizing that he had become a warden for the wrong reasons and is now working as a fishing guide in Grand Lake Stream. For years, his supervisors had been telling him he was a screw-up, but Mike has a keen intelligence and a big heart, and he is as brave as hell. And almost as soon as he resigns from the service, he begins having second thoughts. He’s not cut out for civilian life either, he realizes. And when a sniper shoots his friend and mentor Kathy Frost, seemingly in retribution for the death of the Afghan vet, he feels rage and impotence. His emotions force him to take action outside the system.

“The Bone Orchard is probably the crucial book so far in the series since The Poacher’s Son. In previous books, Mike makes a series of personal and professional mistakes and learns from them, but this is the novel where we really begin to see him maturing into the hero he was always mean to be.”

John also wrote a blog calling the book my best (a sentiment with which I agree, although I will always love my firstborn, The Poacher's Son, in a special way). In just six weeks we'll all be debate whether he is right.

PS: If you'd rather not wait six weeks, you can still enter Macmillan's Father's Day sweeps for free copies of both The Bone Orchard and The Poacher's Son.

Win an Advance Copy of The Bone Orchard

The fifth book in the Mike Bowditch series won't be out until July 15 but you can score a sneak peek now. My publisher is giving away 5 copies of the novel (along with a paperback edition of The Poacher's Son) as part of a Fathers Day Sweeps. You can register for the giveaway by clicking here.

(The form requires you to list a profession from a short list, but that's a problem the administrators are fixing. Just enter Educator. You won't be disqualified. I promise)

The Bone Orchard has already earned a rare starred and boxed review from Publishers Weekly which called it: "Excellent...Thoughtful plotting and strong characters raise this above the crime novel pack." Personally, I think it's my best book—but I look forward to your feedback.