Reviews

Firestorm by Nevada Barr

daumari's review against another edition

3.0

I feel like it's important to read a series in order, especially a long-running one like this because these characters and their worlds build over the years, and it's apparent here where a fellow park ranger from Mesa Verde also makes her way out to Lassen Volcanic NP to fight fires, and Fredrick the Fed shows up sniffing around when murder (it's always murder) rears its ugly head. Firestorm felt different than previous Anna Pigeon adventures though, because the location very much made it like a locked house/island murder mystery: the titular firestorm strands ten people on a slope and one of them killed the eleventh. Due to the fire, no one came in or out so who among the survivors is the killer, and can Anna identify them before she tips them off?

It's always interesting to come to a then-contemporary book years after the fact- this is firmly mid-'90s, and that's most apparent with Stanton's viewpoints as he gathers information on his end. Queer representation surprises me for some reason, even though LGBTQ+ have always existed- it's a plus that it's another part of their version of our world. The conclusion came very quickly to me- I found myself looking at how many pages were left and wondering how much was going to avalanche at the end. Firestorm does suffer the similar problems I've had with other Anna Pigeon books where it's hard to keep the cast of characters separate- there's some standouts but otherwise suspects start to blur together...

On to [b:Endangered Species|76704|Endangered Species (Anna Pigeon, #5)|Nevada Barr|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1326365977l/76704._SY75_.jpg|1484792], I guess...

nuthatch's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

book_concierge's review against another edition

3.0

In this 4th book of a series, U.S. Park Ranger Anna Pigeon is on temporary duty as the security officer and EMT with a group fighting the Jacknife fire in Northern California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park. A weather system promises some rain or snow to quench what is left of the fire, so the crew is dismantling the camp and pulling out. But one man is injured in an accident and Anna and a few others trek to his position to help evacuate the big guy down the mountain. Before they can get to safety, the storm front pushes high winds into the small remaining fires and a firestorm results, trapping them with only their individual safety shelters to protect them. When they emerge two men are dead – but one of them didn’t die in the fire; he’s been stabbed. With few resources, and a several days wait for rescue crews, Anna is alone in trying to figure out who among them is the murderer.

Nevada Barr writes good, suspenseful and intricately plotted mysteries, and this is a good one. I like Anna as a lead character; she’s intelligent, tenacious, strong (in body and mind) and resourceful. Barr includes a little romantic tension with Anna’s long-distance relationship with FBI agent Frederick Stanton, but that’s okay. There are several stereotypical characters – school-bully-turned-cop, weak-indecisive-bureaucrat, good-time-girl-camp-follower – but most of the team are reasonably complicated with strengths and weaknesses that come out under the stress of their predicament.

All told it’s a solid mystery with fast action that kept me interested from beginning to end

kangokaren's review against another edition

5.0

My favorite so far!

holly_keimig's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting book. I learned quite a bit about what firefighters in the Park Service do to help with fires. Also learned a bit about Lassen Volcanoes NP. The main mystery was a bit confusing. There were a lot of characters to keep track of. Still worth a read!

sharonsueg's review against another edition

3.0

I did not enjoy this one as much as previous ones in this series. Seemed to drag on and on. It was difficult to keep the characters straight as they were mentioned sometimes by their first name and in the subsequent sentence by their last name and rarely by both.

neeners721's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

lablazlay5's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

plaidmadness's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

stevem0214's review against another edition

5.0

Man!!! Great book. By far the best in the great series so far. Caught in a firestorm, a crew including Anna have to pull their Shake N Bake fire tents (we also called them momma bags when I had my red card). During the fire, one firefighter is murdered in the perfect locked room mystery. The mystery holds until literally the last page.