A Shining Review

David Marshall James has an insightful review of The Poacher's Son (if I do say so myself) on Shine by Yahoo:

The novel benefits from the built-in thrill of the chase, from the mystery of whether or not Jack Bowditch is an innocent man. The author turns the northern Maine topography-- with the omnipresent threat of logging/paper industries-- into a major character here.

As I was writing the book I did my best to make the Maine woods as vivid as I could (although I'm never sure what critics mean when they describe setting as a character). I've been pleased that readers have responded to the role nature plays in the novel.

BookBrowse: "Loaded with Unexpected Twists"

Megan Shaffer, writing for BookBrowse, the awesome online book review site, has kind words for my novel:

The Poacher's Son is stocked with excitement and trepidation. Peering over the shoulder of Mike Bowditch as he combs through the eerie silence of the North Woods is pure nail-biting fun. Paul Doiron expertly takes hundreds of miles of largely uninhabited terrain and pares them down to a veritable base camp providing readers with easy access to both the thrill of the story and the breathtaking beauty of Maine's northern exposure. Loaded with unexpected twists, The Poacher's Son takes you to the edge and leaves you begging for more.

My life seems loaded with (pleasantly) unexpected twists these days, too.

Chang-Rae Lee on Writing

My college drinking buddy, Chang-Rae Lee, has become one of the premier writers of my generation. His novels, including Native Speaker, A Gesture Life, and most recently The Surrendered, are exquisitely told stories that explore not just cultural divisions, but also the divisions within ourselves. Chang-Rae now teaches writing at Princeton University, which produced this video:

I envy the students in his writing workshops.

The New York Times Reviews The Poacher's Son

This is the big one. The Poacher's Son has already received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal. But as humbling as these reviews have been, nothing in publishing matches a positive notice in the New York Times Sunday Book Review: our literary journal of record. Tens of thousands of new books are published each year in this country; the Times reviews very few of these titles. Fewer still come from debut authors like me.

Today, I beat the odds. This afternoon, Minotaur received an advance copy of Marilyn Stasio's next "Crime" column, which will appear in the Sunday, May 9, 2010 issue of the Times. Here's part of what Stasio has to say about The Poacher's Son:

The novel’s eye-popping scenes, idyllic and otherwise, are conveyed by Doiron’s narrator, Mike Bowditch, a rookie game warden who loves the ‘solitary and morbid profession’ that is threatened when his father, Jack, a notorious poacher, is accused of murder. ‘He was a bar brawler, not a terrorist,’ Mike insists, swearing loyalty to a man who may not be worth his son’s faith in him. Jack is still a flamboyant character, one of the best sights in a book that has plenty of natural wonders.

The rest of the review is just as enthusiastic and deftly written. When it comes online later next week, I'll be sure to post a link. In the meantime I'm feeling as happy as I've felt in a long, long time.   

I (Really) Love a Mystery

Good things came in four for me this week. Michael F. Hennessey, who writes the "I Love a Mystery" newsletter reviewed The Poacher's Son and has this to say:

Debut novels often show weaknesses in characterization, in dialogue, in plotting. But Paul Doiron has written a seamless thriller in The Poacher's Son... This is a debut novel that never takes a wrong turn.