RT Book Reviews Says "Bad Little Falls" Is a Top Pick

RT Book Reviews is out with its review of Bad Little Falls and it's a beauty. The magazine gives the book 4.5 out of 5 stars and proclaims it a Top Pick for August. To fully appreciate why I am so delighted by this news it helps to understand RT Book Reviews ratings system:

4 1/2 Gold: Phenomenal. In a class by itself.
4 1/2: Fantastic. A keeper.
4: Compelling. A page-turner.
3: Enjoyable. A pleasant read.
2: Problematic. May struggle to finish.
1: Severely Flawed. Pass on this one.

RT TOP PICKS -- The RT Top Picks list represents the best books of the month chosen by our staff of reviewers from the 250 plus new books reviewed in each issue of RT BOOK REVIEWS Magazine.

Here's what reviewer Donna M. Carter has to say about Bad Little Falls:

Doiron once again makes excellent use of Maine’s unforgiving weather to set the stage for a compelling mystery, while underscoring his complicated hero’s troubled character. Elegant prose perfectly captures the feel of the location, and the diverse, realistic cast of characters enriches the narrative. Readers will shiver — both from the cold and in anticipation of the rather shocking conclusion.

A shocking conclusion was what I was aiming for with the novel. I'm glad I hit the mark!

Cougars on the Loose!

The mountain lion, puma, catamount, or cougar was extirpated from the state of Maine many decades ago, but rumors of big cat sightings have persisted. In recent years, physical evidence of mountain lions has even been recovered.

The first question for biologists is whether these are truly wild cats or animals released into the outdoors by people who can't care for them (cougars are evidently quite cheap and easy to purchase) or perhaps by idealists who nurture vague dreams of repopulating Maine's woods with genuinely dangerous felines. The second question biologists ask is whether wild mountain lions are expanding their range across the eastern United States, and if so, how many cats do you need to start a viable breeding population.

In the new issue of Down East, Paul J. Fournier, author of the much recommended Tales from Misery Ridge, takes on these questions. Paul is a Registered Maine Guide, former sporting camp owner, and spokesman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, so his lifelong chase of mountain lions in Maine makes for required reading—at least if you enjoy reading about the North Woods.

Love + Sex

The funniest review of Bad Little Falls comes via Yahoo Singapore Sports—no, I have no idea either—from the pen of David Marshall James:

Mike's relationship with his upwardly mobile mother and her second husband is fractious at best, while Mike's father was an outstanding bad example. 

As the snowstorms settle in on Mike's bleak new life, he encounters a nearby family even more dysfunctional than his own. 

At least his mother traded up in the husband department. 

The attractive, young, neighborhood mother has had a codependent fling with the drug-dealing pal of her ne'er-do-well brother. Meanwhile, her sister has suffered a brain injury in the auto wreck that claimed their parents' lives. 

No surprise, then, that the recovering addict's -- who has caught Mike's eye, among other body parts-- son is a candidate for some serious counseling. 

Mike-- please don't go there. Mike ... Mike .... 

Yahoo has tagged the review under "love" and "sex." I'd add "death" to mix, but otherwise that sounds about right to me.

Booklist Says "Bad" Is Good

The early reviews are rolling in for Bad Little Falls, and this time it's Booklist with a rave:

Game warden Mike Bowditch isn’t sure whether it’s the climate or the area’s unemployment and drug abuse issues that are meant as punishment, but it’s clear his transfer to Maine’s Down East region is no promotion. Winter’s first blizzard offers a taste of his new reality when a search-and-rescue effort uncovers the murdered body of a violent drug dealer. Bowditch is convinced that things don’t add up when police arrest the dead man’s best friend for the crime, but the game warden’s new relationship with the dead dealer’s ex-girlfriend has tanked his credibility. Bucking better judgment, Bowditch starts digging and through a combination of sharp curiosity and gut instinct, he’s soon the only investigator making the connections. Doiron’s third Bowditch entry is riveting and honest, with full-depth characters and a landscape that isn’t cutting any slack. Readers of Nevada Barr and C. J. Box will enjoy this similar tale, with the added surprise of a refreshing hero whose youth and inexperience Doiron skillfully twists into an asset.

The review will appear in the magazine's August issue. I'll put a link up when it goes lives.

Amazon Reviews and Authors

I have a post up this morning at Maine Crime Writers talking about the strange experience, sometimes thrilling and sometimes surreal, of reading the anonymous and psedonymous reviews of one's novels on Amazon, iBooks, Shelfari, Goodreads, Librarything, and all the new online venues for selling and discussing books. It's a brave new world when a reviewer pans the novel you spent six years writing because she found the voice of the audiobook narrator to be "annoying." One frantic mystery author I know tried to petition Amazon to remove a review because she felt it spoiled the ending of her book. Amazon ignored her, as you might have expected. Do book buyers read starred online reviews, I ask. And more to the point can they help—or hurt—sales?