Nevada Barr's Burn Called Outstanding by Publishers Weekly!

Cover via Amazon
"Anna noticed he didn't bother to tell the other cop hat he had a gun on one of the "newspaper people..."
"He narrowed his eyes. He'd swallowed the newspaper bit as far as it went, but this was too much even for his big gut. Leaning forward, he ground his foot into the back of the little girl's head. She squealed; her twin echoed the cry...
"Has he got one of those goddamned iPod things that can send his pictures to the Internet as soon as he takes them?" the chief asked and pressed harder on the little neck beneath his foot. This time the child did not scream. Anna hoped her neck hadn't snapped under the pressure..."
~~~

Burn:
An Anna Pigeon Novel


By Nevada Barr


Outstanding, Powerful, and Astonishingly Real may all be used to "try" to describe and share about this Nevada Barr novel and it still would not tell you how amazing this book is... From the first novel by Barr, Track of the Cat, Anna Pigeon has been one of my most favorite characters--and, of course, Nevada Barr, a favorite author. I had missed the last few because of my schedule, but will soon remedy that!

But this book, and Barr's fairly new character, Claire, has moved her into one of the best writers dealing with one of today's major criminal issues. Barr not only deals with those criminals involved, but takes you directly into the reality of it all. This book is not for the squeamish or those who do not face what is happening in today's world--would you believe it? Kudos to author for Speaking out Against Child Sexual Abuse through her characters!

Claire was back from getting the cough syrup and ran to check her girls...they were not in bed. She searched everywhere and then ran to the neighbors. In the meantime, there was an explosion and their house was on fire.

When they carried out two small bodies and a man, assumed to be her husband, Claire was shocked and ran toward the house. They had not
been there! But she did find their dog and a neighbor with a small girl gave her a stuffed toy, saying "Alive" in her home language.

Of course, the police believed that Claire had killed them all. But Claire didn't believe the girls were dead. She had heard one other clue about New Orleans...and began her own search while she was wanted nationally for murder...

Anna, was already in Louisiana, having come on a vacation after having been hurt and needing rest...

But Anna was not that type and when she first noticed Jordan with a bunch of kids, she immediately wondered why he was hanging out with them. Then she discovered he was a neighbor, renting off of the woman with whom she was staying. One night he had furtively left his apartment and Anna followed long enough to watch him put something in the garbage and then return. Of course, Anna pulled it out--it was a dead pigeon and there were voodoo markings on the paper that held the bird... After trying to find out more about him, she decided to break into his apartment...there were pictures of little girls on the walls. Anna was upset but before she could decided what to do, Jordan came home!

This novel is about child theft and trafficking. Two women, one a public cop/ranger--the other a mother who will do anything to find her children. And when they get close enough, but have nobody they can trust, believing the police are involved...well, they go in anyway...

I consider this a must-read for those who wish to fight these issues in any way they can! Anna Pigeon is a woman who does just what should be done! If you haven't met her for awhile, be prepared for quite a few changes! I loved it!


GABixlerReviews


Note: I didn't realize that all of these would come when embedded...The one about Anna and God was the one I was going to share...I can just see Anna saying, "Well...God, what are you doing about this?!!!"

Biography

Nevada was born in the small western town of Yerington, Nevada and raised on a mountain airport in the Sierras. Both her parents were pilots and mechanics and her sister, Molly, continued the tradition by becoming a pilot for USAir.
Pushed out of the nest, Nevada fell into the theatre, receiving her BA in speech and drama and her MFA in Acting before making the pilgrimage to New York City, then Minneapolis, MN. For eighteen years she worked on stage, in commercials, industrial training films and did voice-overs for radio. During this time she became interested in the environmental movement and began working in the National Parks during the summers -- Isle Royale in Michigan, Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, Mesa Verde in Colorado, and then on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.
Woven throughout these seemingly disparate careers was the written word. Nevada wrote and presented campfire stories, taught storytelling and was a travel writer and restaurant critic. Her first novel, Bitterweet was published in 1983. The Anna Pigeon series, featuring a female park ranger as the protagonist, started when she married her love of writing with her love of the wilderness, the summer she worked in west Texas. The first book, Track of the Cat, was brought to light in 1993 and won both the Agatha and Anthony awards for best first mystery. The series was well received and A Superior Death, loosely based on Nevada's experiences as a boat patrol ranger on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, was published in 1994. In 1995 Ill Wind came out. It was set in Mesa Verde, Colorado where Nevada worked as a law enforcement ranger for two seasons.
The rest is, shall we say, HISTORY! Nevada's books and accomplishments have become numerous and the presses continue to roll, so in the interest of NOT having to update this page, books, awards, status on the New York Times Best Seller List -- and more -- will be enumerated with the relevant books else where on this website.