OMG, Nevada Barr with Destroyer Angel Just What I Wanted! Starts Top 10 Favorites for Year...

All forms of sorrow and delight. All Solemn Voices of the Night...

The words seemed to form from from the soughing of the wind in dying leaves. The mystical ululation of a loon, a sound that seemed to Anna to linger on the water long after the bird had ceased to call, punctuated the thought. Wadsworth? Frost?...
Enjoying nostalgia, a luxury she seldom allowed herself, she lay back in the stern of the canoe as it drifted down the Fox River as light and quiet as a leaf on a pond. A new moon, a dime-sized wraith barely edged with light, was almost lost in a dense sea of glittering stars. This far north, this far from neon, fluorescent, incandescent and halogen, this far from television screens, stars and sky appeared simultaneously close and impossibly distant. If Anna let her fingers loose from where they relaxed around the gunwales, she might fall up and forever.
There was nowhere she needed to be, no one she needed to serve. The owner of the convenience store at the put-in said the camp they'd planned on using had been burned over by a forest fire, so they stopped a few miles upstream. Anna reveled in the extra time to do absolutely nothing productive. She knew she should be missing Paul. A beter husband than Paul Davidson would only serve to make a woman feel chronically inadequate.
It wasn't that she didn't enjoy his company; they'd been married several years and she was still crazy in love with the man. Catching his smile in a crowd never failed to make her heart skip a beat. The thing was, when she was alone in wild country--or as wild as country got in these United States--Anna didn't miss anyone, not her friends, not her dog or cat, not her sister, Molly, not her husband...

~~~

Destroyer Angel:

An Anna Pigeon Novel

By Nevada Barr

Anna Pigeon just may be my favorite female character. I've been her fan since she first appeared in Track of the Cat, working as a Forest Ranger... But this book? OMG, it totally blew me away! Imagine if you would, a group of women and girls who have gone camping. For Anna, it's her vacation. There's a purpose for the trip--to test equipment created by one of the women. It is to be tested by another of the women, who uses a wheelchair due to an accident...

That's it! That's the Plot... Other than, of course, that somebody has hired a group of mercenaries to either bring back or murder everybody from the female group.  Apparently the designer is worth millions; her daughter is with her. But are they going to be ransomed or killed as well? Readers really don't know...

The book comes out on April Fools Day? Guess who gets fooled? Certainly not readers because I'm positive everybody who reads it will be fully satisfied...unless, they, too are mercenaries... I probably shouldn't have said that...a giveaway? Sure, but it's so obvious, why not celebrate it! Of course, it could also be...me...who is planting the April Fools joke because, in reality, the final outcome is not even included as the book ends... so chew on that for awhile... LOL

Perceptions not provable in a lab informed Anna
that the pure nastiness of humanity was polluting
the Fox River. Pure nasty humanity was the
problem she had with Paul's God of Love. Too many
people were involved. Had love of one's neighbor
referred only to those with fur or feathers, she
might have become a believer...
A man's voice rumbled downriver, chasing the
crying of a woman or girl. No barking or growling.
Where was Wily? As he aged, his joints had
grown stiff, but his hearing was still keen...
Four men were visible; the nearest was a head
taller than his companions...
These were men who stalked alleys, bars, and
city parks...
Two teenaged girls, a slightly mad scientist, a
paraplegic, and an old dog. Anybody who would
prey on such as these would stomp kittens and
dry-swallow ducklings.
~~~

Nevada Barr is an awesome writer. Her first book won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and I've traveled with her all over the United States with her job, but I think the scariest for me was when the trip deep into a cave system took place. This one just may have been scarier...but it had some major humor scenes that lightened the horror... kinda...

Anna, as you discovered in the excerpt above, was out on the lake by herself, when the initial camp invasion occurred. When the question came about the 5th woman, it was calmly announced that family issues had prevented her coming. That same woman took advantage of another situation and screamed "Stay the Hell Away!"

But Anna had no weapons with her...how was she going to help?

If Anna went for help, it would be thirty-six hours minimum before it arrived. Thirty-six hours would be too late.
Monsters weren't known for deferring gratification... 
With luck, and the good wood of a canoe paddle, a lone gunman could be taken down by five women. There would be a cost, but it could be done...
Four gunmen was a different story. Still, Anna would stay, would watch. She would wait for an opening, a chance, then we would take it. Too many years rescuing lost hikers, mourning friends, and seeking justice for the dead had passed for her not to know she was, and always would be, her sister's keeper.

~~~

"Kill" was the word she used in her mind, not stop, disable, or detain but barbaric, irreversible, unforgivable killing. Time and life were the only true riches humans had. To waste either was a crime and a sin, if sin existed...
Still, she would slaughter these men if he got a chance. She would kill them all. This was not the time or place for knocking people out, tying them up, then hoping they stayed knocked out and tied up. There were too many of them, too few of her, and the stakes were too high. When it was done, she would have unclean hands. Paul would smell the blood on them. Like Lady Macbeth, she'd see the stains in her dreams.
Nightmares would be a small price to pay for Heath, E. Leah, and Katie.
And Wily. She wouldn't forget Wily.
~~~

Other than the leader of the men who everybody called the Dude, there was a gangbanger from the city, a pedophile which probably wasn't discovered until he began his campaign to connect in some way with Katie, Leah's daughter. Leah is a wonderfully conceived character. She is

obviously brilliant, but somewhat like Bones in the program by the same name... But since Leah is a designer, she spends so much time alone and in complete concentration of her work, she has absolutely no people skills, even with her daughter, who is raised by her father and is almost estranged from her mother and definitely spoiled.

The final man, Sean, was described as being hard to read, but he was so creepy that nobody wanted to look at him long enough to learn more. It appeared that the Dude was the only one with any kind of vested interest in actually completing the job. When the Dude announced "We're not taking the cripple," one of the women quickly persuaded three of them that she had even more money than Leah and the three convinced the Dude to take her...

One key plot issue allows the whole activity to occur. A forest fire had destroyed the original site where the women were to camp...By the time everything started happening, the distance to get back to civilization was much greater. But how would that affect the men being willing to take "the cripple?"

I guess I'd better stop! I'd love to tell you much more, but that would prevent you from enjoying the book...what I've shared is mostly just from the first few chapters! I'll give you two clues--wolves and demons...LOL!

For me, this is undoubtedly the first I'm placing in my top ten favorite books for 2014! I loved it and easily give it a 10! 'Nuf said!

GABixlerReviews

Nevada Barr is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels featuring Anna Pigeon, a law enforcement part ranger. She won the Agatha Award for best first novel for Track of the Cat. Like her character, Barr worked for the National Park Service as a park ranger before resigning to write full time. She lives in New Orleans. NevadaBarr.Com

This is a different book, but it fits with some of my interests in this book...

New Mate Bernie Dowling Brings Aussie Music, Racing With...Murder!

"I drank too much coffee and studied lots of form,
for about two hours. Most punters have given up
studying the form closely, with so many race
meetings to choose from. Big mistake. A punter
should study the form of every horse in every race
they are likely to bet on. If I followed my own
golden rule, I might have been rich. Knowing
what's good for you is a lot easier than doing
what's good for you...
"I knocked on the glass-and-aluminum door of
Unit 4, but got no answer for my trouble. I half-
turned to go back to the car, but found the door
handle slid across easily in my hand. And so I
found myself standing in the office of Caulfield
Jones, turfologist...
"It was a little untidy. A glass was upturned near
a wet spot in the carpet. A cigarette had burned
a hole in the same carpet. White ash encircled
the cigarette stuf. And a man who I took to be
Caulfield Jones was stretched out on the floor.
"Except that I knew him as Marcus Georgio..."
~~~

Iraqi Icicle

By Bernie Dowling


Probably most of you, including myself, have wondered about the title of this novel... I'm a literalist, so to start writing my review, I immediately started searching for this rose... I searched until I found the interview where Bernie Dowling says it doesn't exist--that it is a metaphor and we were to figure out what it represented...Say What...?

Now, what's a person like me to do...yeah, I decided to think the author was a bit of a romantic, in some strange way, and forget about it! LOL After all, the novel is full of quips, sarcasm and Aussie slang that I also didn't truly understand sometime...at least until I got into the swing of the book and Steele Hill's personality...

he's weird...and check out the author pic...no wonder his character is...weird...LOL!

Well, for me, somebody who is a part-time bookie, who works diligently to receive unemployment because he's been banned from all race courses in the country, and is intelligent enough to figure out just how to do that, is indeed weird...LOL OK, maybe not for some of you potential readers, but for the rest of us "working stiffs...." I also know nothing about horse racing...nor the music of the period in which Steele Hill lived (so I found a lead group to play and learn while like I did--I enjoyed them, why about you?!)

But none of that stopped me from having fun with the book, enjoying meeting this character and watching his reaction to...

The bodies that kept piling up for him to discover...

"Brisbane, summer, 1989
"When Bub's fellow first-year acting student
Suzanne Lu dropped dead in a La Boite production
of Waiting for Godot, I thought it was in the script.
Even when Jane screamed, it seemed to fit. More
astute theatrical punters near me in the first rows
picked up on the discordant vibes and a Mexican
scream started, washing out behind us...
"Only a tiny grimace at the corner of her mouth
gave any hint that Suzanne Lu was disappointed
at her passing. Overall, her unlined face looked
serene..."

Steele's "cucumber" Natalie and her sister live in his apartment house where Natalie doesn't know he's enjoyed both sisters a time or two...

But then, Natalie gets him involved with her sister's acting career and school activities, so maybe that's fair? In Australia? In any event, that first murder was discovered while he had attended a play her sister was in...

Now, there's a couple issues about this book--it's divided into "books" and most of the characters, except for the victims of course, appear throughout each book which seems in someways like short stories.

And then there's the fact that the various books don't seem to be in order... but, if you are working to solve the mystery killings, you simply must pay attention on just about every page...well, maybe not every page, but clues that Steele doesn't "use" to figure out what is going on until much later may have been simply a part of the narrative... So that's your only warning because the author is not giving you any!

Two cops make many appearances--all to blame Steele for the latest murder. Sure, he happens to be in the vicinity, such as when he attended a school play, but you got to figure that these cops are a bit screwy???

And while all these murders are taking place, Steele gets involved in fixing a race! Actually, he's only the money guy but did make the contact to find an unidentifiable "go-fast" for the horse. And a horse is not the only one into drugs... Of course that contact later turns up dead... Honestly, you just have to go with it, because when you read a paragraph like"

A bag of fruit is walking down the street with his nose inside a plastic folder. He glances over its top edge, then pretends to be lost, backtracking down the concrete path and into a side street. That is what you call going out of your way for the unfortunate.

you just have to keep on reading, and hoping, that you'll be able to figure out how a "bag of fruit" walks...

Seriously, at one time I had dreams of going to Australia. Thinking they spoke English... But the bloke who wrote this novel kept me turning each page until the latest gig Steele was asked to get involved with made him run in the opposite direction. I think Steele is the only one who really knows who committed all of the murders 'cause I lost track! ! I told you Steele was weird, and so's the author...

I like weird...


GABixlerReviews

From the Author

If you enjoy the works of Chandler and Hammett, my neo-noir novel could be your swig of whiskey.

As an Australian journalist, I have worked in  reporting rounds such as arts and entertainment, crime, politics, human interest and sports. I  published a weekly humor column for 11 years and travelled extensively across my home State. I have drawn on all these diverse strands of his working and social life to produce Iraqi Icicle, a highly original detective thriller which is my first novel after publishing non-fiction and short stories. I present you Iraqi Icicle.

About the Author

Bernie Dowling is an Australian journalist who lives  in the  Pine Rivers district, just north of the Queensland State Capital of Brisbane.
Dowling grew up and lived in Brisbane most of his life though he has lived in or frequently visited provincial and coastal towns across south-east Queensland.
He has worked in many reporting rounds, including arts and entertainment, crime, politics, human interest and sports. He  published a weekly humor column for 11 years.
Dowling has drawn on all these diverse strands of his working and social life to produce Iraqi Icicle, a highly original detective thriller which is his first novel.
The author lives with his wife and son in Lawnton, a Pine Rivers suburb.