Publishers Weekly
★ 04/19/2021
At the start of Edgar finalist Doiron’s nail-biting 12th mystery featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch (after 2020’s One Last Lie), Bowditch runs his Jeep off the road into the icy Androscoggin River after his tires are shredded by metal spikes intentionally left in the road. The game warden escapes from his submerged vehicle, but he risks hypothermia. Flash back to earlier that morning. Mariëtte Chamberlain asks Bowditch, who has a reputation for solving cold cases, to reinvestigate her father-in-law’s death. Four years earlier, professor Eben Chamberlain, formerly of the British foreign service, was duck hunting on the Androscoggin when he apparently fell out of his boat and drowned. Since Chamberlain, according to Mariëtte, never would have taken off his life vest, she suspects foul play. Bowditch agrees to do a little digging and is soon headed for trouble. Doiron builds tension by alternating between his lead’s battle to survive and the inquiry into Chamberlain’s death, which he effectively doles out in small segments. This entry stands as the best yet in a superior series. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary. (June)
From the Publisher
A nail-biter in a nightlong fight for survival in the Maine wilderness....[Doiron proves] his mastery of pacing and suspense. Frostbite aside, this book sizzles.” –People Magazine
“Hungry for action, adventure and physical danger? Take a Jeep ride with 31-year-old Maine game warden Mike Bowditch...Dead By Dawn mixes Jack London-style peril with the DIY inventiveness of TV’s “MacGyver” and the thrill of Richard Connell’s classic pursuit story ‘The Most Dangerous Game.’” –Wall Street Journal
“The 12th novel in Paul Doiron's unwaveringly superb series about a courageous, battle-tested Maine game warden...a wilderness survival story as compelling Jack London’s classic short story, ‘To Build a Fire’....the prose is as sharp as an arrow and so lyrical that it sometimes borders on poetry.” –Associated Press
“Maine writer Paul Doiron has demonstrated he is a master at crafting compelling mysteries...unequivocally his best yet.”—Maine Sunday Telegram
“Brilliant characterizations and a compelling narrative…this series just keeps getting better.” –Booklist (starred)
“Nail-biting...the best yet in a superior series.” –Publishers Weekly (starred)
“Part survival story, part mystery-suspense, Doiron's narrative is fast-paced and engaging.” –Library Journal
"A tour de force." —Kirkus Reviews
"Fans of Mike Bowditch mystery novels will not be disappointed." —Boston.com
"[A] gripping thriller...relentless in pace and plotting." —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Praise for One Last Lie:
"This novel is something of a departure for Doiron... the suspenseful, fast-paced plot has more twists and turns than usual." —Associated Press
"Before you read this book, clear your schedule. It’s the kind of story best read in one gulp...[Doiron] keeps getting better." —New York Journal of Books
“Edgar finalist Doiron artfully blends a whodunit plot with superior characterizations in his top-notch 11th mystery…vividly portrays the Maine woods setting while maintaining taut suspense.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)
“One Last Lie is a triumph for aficionados and newcomers alike. The secrets, old and new, are compelling, and Doiron's landscape imagery is perfectly balanced (as is the literary history)...Trust, friendship, love, faith and how the family we choose holds powerful sway is at the heart of this impressive series entry.” —Shelf Awareness
“Doiron’s masterful plotting pulls it all together, and the reader gets to meet an odd assortment of extraordinarily well-defined characters—good guys and bad—while learning more about both the natural and the political history of the Pine Tree State.” —Booklist
Praise for Paul Doiron and the Mike Bowditch mysteries:
“Doiron captures the stark beauty of his setting.” —New York Times Book Review for Stay Hidden
"The characters are well drawn, the Maine landscape is vividly portrayed, and Bowditch pursues his passion to protect the innocent and bring evil doers to justice regardless of personal cost." —Associated Press for Almost Midnight
"Doiron...[ramps] up the tension slowly until the story reaches can't-put-it-down velocity." —Library Journal for Almost Midnight
“Breathless pacing, dark humor, wildlife, and vivid characters.” —Boston Globe for Widowmaker
“As always with a Doiron novel, the characters are so well-drawn you can almost reach out and shake their hands, and the rural landscape is so vividly portrayed that the reader can smell wildflowers, marvel at the swarms of fireflies and feel the sting of the blood-thirsty insects. But the author's finest achievement is the evolution of Mike Bowditch himself.” —Bruce DeSilva, Associated Press for Knife Creek
“Outstanding…Doiron balances nuanced characterizations and intelligent plotting perfectly.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) for Stay Hidden
"The extraordinary sense of place makes this Doiron's strongest novel yet." —Booklist (starred review) for Stay Hidden
"...the 12th novel in Paul Doiron's unwaveringly superb series about a courageous, battle-tested Maine game warden...a wilderness survival story as compelling Jack London’s classic short story, “To Build a Fire....the prose is as sharp as an arrow and so lyrical that it sometimes borders on poetry." - Associated Press
Library Journal
06/01/2021
Maine game warden Mike Bowditch returns in this 12th adventure (after One Last Lie), where he seemingly innocuously reopens an old accidental drowning case that soon takes a dangerous turn. After running over a barbed metal trap, Mike loses control of his Jeep and plunges into an icy river. Summoning his survival training, he frees himself from the car and the river, but this is only the beginning. In wet clothes and freezing temperatures, his body can only take so much. An ice fishing hut provides shelter, and he's able to start a fire using his cell phone battery. Then the gunshots begin. Now it's not only a fight against the elements, it's a fight against humankind. Alternating timelines reveal an interesting contrast in the periods before and after Mike's ensnarement. Part survival story, part mystery-suspense, Doiron's narrative is fast-paced and engaging, but the ultimate resolution is somewhat disappointing, as it is only loosely related to Mike's case. VERDICT Readers of the series may appreciate the villain reveal, but those new to the books might feel slighted. A definite purchase where other series titles circulate; a pass for libraries that don't already own previous installments.—Vicki Briner, Broomfield, CO
Kirkus Reviews
2021-03-31
Game warden Mike Bowditch’s 12th adventure sends him hurtling through the Maine woods into the past, just like his first 11.
Imperious Rhodesian-born widow Mariëtte Chamberlain is convinced that the death four years ago of her father-in-law, professor Eben Chamberlain, was murder, not the accident Sgt. Marc Rivard’s investigation pronounced it after Chamberlain’s decomposing corpse was pulled from the Androscoggin River. Now that Rivard has lost his job as a warden, she requests—no, demands—that Bowditch launch his own inquiry. This can’t possibly end well, not only because Bowditch must deal with both the client from hell and a resentful ex-boss he was never close to, but because the opening scene has already made Bowditch the victim of a snowy act of sabotage that sends his Jeep plummeting into the river with him and Shadow, his companion wolf, inside. Shuttling back and forth between this calamity and the steps that led up to it, Doiron shows Bowditch dutifully questioning Arlo Burch, the last person to see Chamberlain alive, and Bruce Jewett, the hunting companion Mariëtte Chamberlain is convinced was the professor’s secret lover and killer, while alternating chapters follow him as he escapes the sinking Jeep, makes his way from the freezing river, and struggles to warm himself before he succumbs to either hypothermia or whomever ran him off the road. Just in case the past doesn’t look menacing enough, Doiron, like a dog who can’t let go of a favored bone, brings back the criminal Dow family as yet another threat.
A tour de force whose detective chapters pale beside its escape-from-certain-death chapters.
