AN Audible Recommendation

Audible asked me — and a few authors you may have heard of — to name the book that best prepared me for the read world. What else could I choose but the greatest novel of all time?

"As a novelist, I believe in the power of fiction to transform the way we look at ourselves in relation to the world. Probably no book had a more profound impact on my understanding of how insignificant the ego is than Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, which portrays even Napoleon Bonaparte as helpless before forces he doesn’t understand. Each of us is less important than we would like to believe, but that doesn’t mean our lives are meaningless. Nor does it absolve us of the responsibility to choose love over hate, peace over war. In college I would hear people say, "It’s not always about you." Tolstoy’s point is that it almost never is. In fact, humility can be a great gift. "

If you have never read War and Peace before, or if you haven't read it in a while, you owe it to yourself to take the plunge. And an audiobook is a lot less intimidating than 1,000 pages.

The Precipice is a Library Reads Pick

I got some exciting news over the weekend. The Precipice has been chosen as one of only 10 books on the Library Reads recommended list for June. Library Reads is an incredibly influential organization precisely because it chooses so few books and because the picks come from librarians themselves. Being on the same list as Judy Blume is certainly mind-blowing!

Thank you to Lora Bruggeman of the Indian Prairie Public Library in Darien, Illinois, for the wonderful recommendation!

“When two women go missing while hiking a difficult part of the Appalachian Trail, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch helps in trying to determine where the women were last seen. Mike then discovers there is no shortage of people whose behaviors make them suspicious. With a puzzle that keeps the reader guessing, and a main character that you can’t help but empathize with, The Precipice is another home run for Doiron.” ”

Win an Advance Copy of The Precipice

Want to win an advance copy of my new novel, THE PRECIPICE? The book won't be in stores until June 16, but next week I will be giving away 5 copies to subscribers of my newsletter. I'll be selecting 5 names at random on Friday, May 8. Sign up here at www.pauldoiron.com. 

"One of the Very Best Outdoor-Based Crime Dramas"

Pre-publication reviews of The Precipice have come fast and furious this week, and today it is Booklist's turn with another starred review:

“Doiron, like Keith McCafferty in Crazy Mountain Kiss (2015), manages to write evocatively about the wilderness while at the same time showing how it can be a deadly adversary. Not that humans aren’t even more deadly, as Bowditch discovers when he’s forced to go up against the drug-dealing Dow family, who terrorize the surrounding community much in the manner of the Ames clan in Jim Harrison’s The Big Seven (2015). This is one of the finest entries in a uniformly strong series that has quietly taken its place among the very best outdoors-based crime dramas.”

Keith McCafferty is an exciting new writer whose work I recommend, and I will happily take any comparisons to the great Jim Harrison — which reminds me that I need to add The Big Seven to my reading list.

The Precipice is "Phenomenal," says RT Book Reviews

RT Book Reviews has named The Precipice its Top Pick of the week and given the book its highest rating. 

Doiron's series keeps getting better and better with each book, and his latest is no exception. He paints a vivid picture of the culture surrounding the Appalachian Trail; the inevitable culture clashes between the hikers and the small towns that rely on the tourism while resenting the commercialization create the perfect backdrop and a large backdrop of potential suspects. This will keep readers guessing — and biting their nails — right until the end. New readers can jump into the series here just fine, but we warned: You'll be compelled to read the rest.

All I can say is "Wow." And, "Thank you."