Hard Truth (An Anna Pigeon Novel)

by Nevada Barr

Book Overview

Just three days after her wedding to Sheriff Paul Davidson, Anna Pigeon moves from Mississippi to Colorado to assume her new post as district ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park, where three young... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425208419
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Berkley
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.8" x 4.1"

Customer Reviews

At last....

"Thank you, Jesus." Ms. Barr has returned to the top of her game. After the disasterous "Flash Back" and the decent "High Country", this book is a real winner. Even the parallel/entertwining storyline was exceptional. Yes, it was "dark" as many reviewers have stated, but, people, look around you...it is a dark world we are living in now. This book could just have well been nonfiction. The crazies are here and are getting scarily crazier. Anyway, back to the book. I had told myself that if Anna ever got married to Paul, that I would stop reading her books. Not because she got married, but because when Paul was in the previous books, Anna was so danged needy and dependent, and yes, simpering. But, I do have to ask...why have a marriage and then schlepp off for a post in Colorado. Anna should probably be home doing her wifely duties instead of off in the wilderness getting the crap knocked out of her. Ah, but I digress.....great book Ms. Barr. Plus, love your new "do".

(4 1/2) A Wilderness of Damaged Souls

My daughter was a seasonal (park ranger) in several national parks during and after college; she enjoys the Anna Pigeon mysteries written by Nevada Barr, as do many of her friends who have served in the National Park Service. Since being introduced to the series, I have found the books interesting but not compelling; thus, I have not read the earliest books in the series and so will not attempt to present a detailed comparison of HARD TRUTH to the author's previous novels. I was anxious to read this book based both on the fact that my wife became involved enough in the story to read it almost non-stop and also because the area in which the story occurs, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK and the surrounding locale, has been the subject of several trips by us to visit our daughter, who lived for a while in Estes Park and whose ex-husband still is a ranger in the National Park. Thus, while the map of the area that is thoughtfully provided by the publishers inside the cover of the book will allow a reader unfamiliar with the Park to visualize the relative adjacencies of the locations described; the fact that we had actually driven several of the roads, hiked the trails, and visited the lakes where the action occurred certainly leant a connection and provided a sense of the terrain which furnished an additional sense of intimacy with the main characters in the story. The story opens with Heath Jarrod (a paraplegic forty-one year old who has obviously not yet come to terms with the result of the ice climbing injury which fractured her third lumbar vertebra several months ago and left her dependent on a wheelchair for her mobility) setting up camp with her aunt Gwen and dog Wiley (real name Prince Theo III) with their RV in Rocky Mountain National Park. Heath resents her aunt's attempt to encourage her to escape from her self-pity and unwillingness to come to terms with her injury and find new activities which would challenge her and could replace rock climbing as the center of her life. She is ashamed of her self-pity and resignation, but nevertheless has essentially become mentally paralyzed and unable to attempt any positive changes even while recognizing that she has rejected the depression which might lead to suicide. Wiley (nicknamed for the carton coyote), supposedly her companion and highly trained helper dog but in reality her only close friend, always appears bedraggled and borders on the ugly but fortunately for Heath is incredibly smart and obedient. He is the silver lining in her cloud, "the one thin flicker in the great dark firmament, like low summer lightning beneath a midwestern tornado sky". Heath suffers an accident as she heads up a trail out of the campground after dark, and suddenly realizes her vulnerability and is ovecome with fear when she hears a noise in the brush next to the trail and fantasizes that it is a bear from which she cannot escape. However, her fear turns to astonishment when her flashlight reveals two terrified young

This episode is far from being "cozy"

Park ranger Anna Pigeon has taken an assignment in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, unfortunately many states away from her new husband Paul back in Mississippi. This is Anna Pigeon's darkest encounter yet, with the danger buried not in Mother Nature, but in the embodiment of some truly sinister human beings. Her near partner-against-crime is an unlikely woman in a wheelchair. Heath Jarrod is a former rock climber who is now paralyzed after falling from a cliff. The two are both such strong women that they don't immediately hit it off. But both are making every effort to right the numerous wrongs in the situations they find themselves in. The issues here are disturbing but far too real: kidnapping, child abuse, religious cults, serial killings. Serious stuff. Anna realizes who the perpetrator is with one third of the book to go. She spends the rest of that time in an attempt not to catch the person, but making every effort to get away and get safe. And it's a long struggle in the remote wilds of Rocky Mountain National Park. I was captivated by the turn of events and the characters and read the last half of the book with both curiosity and dread. I like to be mystified, but I don't like to be scared. I don't watch horror movies and I don't usually read dark and sinister stuff. That being said, I think HARD TRUTH may be the last Anna Pigeon book for me. I've read each book in the series and have enjoyed them overall, especially as they are set in such wonderful surroundings. But the darkness and the violence is getting too much for naive, little me. I wish Ms. Barr and Anna well, and maybe our paths will cross again someday. HARD TRUTH is an intriguing, suspenseful, well-crafted story that could all too easily be true. Be afraid, be very afraid!

strong but darker Anna Pigeon police procedural

Married less than a week, National Parks Ranger Anna Pigeon celebrates her "honeymoon" by starting a new job at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado while her spouse Sheriff Paul Davidson remains in Mississippi. However, barely on the job, she finds herself caught up in the case of two female teens, who vanished with a third girl about a month ago, but just returned. The twosome remains closemouthed about their tribulations insisting they do not know what happened or where the third female might be. Though traumatized by a recent climbing accident that paralyzed her, Heath Jarrod , who with her elderly aunt found the two girls, manages to somewhat reach the girls. Anna investigates what little she has learned especially the recent slaughter of small animals and a tight lipped cult whose charismatic leader controls the young that flock to him as she hopes to rescue the still missing third person. Meanwhile Heath tries to aid the two devastated teens, who still seem frightened by whoever abducted them. Actually by assisting the girls, Heath helps herself more as she begins to adjust to life in a wheelchair. Though darker than her previous appearances due to the graphically related evil exploits of the villain, the latest Anna Pigeon police procedural is a terrific thriller in which the heroine risks her life. The story line cleverly counterbalances the malevolent antagonist with Heath's reemergence as a member of the living as both have "purpose". The courageous Anna is fabulous with her two time zone marriage (she may detest cell phones, but they come in handy) while investigating a dangerous case with several viable suspects, who seem as if anyone could kidnap girls and if needed kill. Harriet Klausner