Monday, November 7, 2011

An Interesting Prequel




Running from depression and alcoholism, Anna Pigeon takes a bus all the way to Arizona where she gets a job as a seasonal employee at Lake Powell in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Her job, picking up the human excrement on the shore of the lake, is unpleasant and difficult. When Anna disappears, her co-workers surmise that she's hurried back to New York. The truth is rather different. Anna has been kidnapped and thrust into a deep, rocky hole. Her struggle to escape is the subject of the early chapters.


I have read many of the Anna Pigeon novels and loved them. The descriptions of the national park settings are well done and the characters interesting. In this novel, the description of Lake Powell and vicinity is delightful, but the characters left me cold. With the possible exception of Jenny, Anna's roommate, I found the characters unlikeable. The motivation for their bad decisions was unclear, even at the end of the book. I finished reading feeling unsatisfied.

The plot is fast paced with plenty of gripping moments, but I didn't feel that it hung together. There were too many unbelievable elements, starting with the opening scenes where Anna finds herself at the bottom of a hole.

If you're an Anna Pigeon fan, I recommend this book because it fills in Anna's early history. If you're looking for a believable plot and well drawn characters, I'd give this one a miss.

I reviewed the book as part of the Amazon Vine Program.

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