Borderline (Anna Pigeon)

I am a big fan of the Anna Pigeon series but this one gets a mixed review. The first half, about Anna's rafting trip and her struggle with PTSD, is compelling and pushes the story along like a raft in whitewater. The second
plot, surrounding a politician's ambition and her relationship with one of her bodyguards, brings that raft up against a boulder and the raft starts to swamp. Fans of the series will enjoy it nonetheless, but first time readers should start with one of the other books in the series!

I found Borderline to be much more of a page-turner than the previous Anna Pigeon mystery, Winter Study. It was also less violent (a good thing). I have been a fan since the first book in the series and recommend reading them in order. Anna has indeed matured and grows more complex and interesting with each book. Nevada Barr is one of the few authors that I follow closely; I buy her books as soon as they come out and have never been disappointed.

I'm an avid follower of Anna Pigeon's exploits who was disappointed in the latest book in the series. Barr's plots aren't her strongest suit, but this one was truly out there. I had a very hard time believing the motives for many of the characters' actions. While Barr does her usual great job describing the physical setting for the novel, along with Anna's inner thoughts, this believable depiction is at odds with most other parts of the story.

As usual, we are expected to believe that Anna (and others) are somehow physically strong enought to endure multiple injuries, fatigue, lack of food and water, etc. without succumbing to their attackers. That's OK -- most male protagonists in crime novels have to do the same and as a 50-something female, I enjoy reading about a middle-aged woman who isn't a couch potato. But this time I was annoyed by Barr's inaccuracies about the subject of the book: a river trip. She has a whitewater outfitter ignoring a basic rule of wilderness river travel by floating the Rio Grande in a single raft, with no other craft for safety or backup. No NPS concessionaire would be allowed to do that on a river with any hazards. Then she repeatedly confuses oars with paddles. Along with this, the WW guide seems unfamiliar with the river's flow stages and rapids. She does not have much of a plan for the float trip, e.g. one that would allow for sufficient rest, for scouting rapids, or that involved the kind of pre-trip basic safety training the outfitter's insurance company would mandate, as would NPS and the guide's professional association. The rafting accident that follows, while necessary as a plot device, is difficult for this reader to believe -- especially given Anna's substantial experience.

Ms. Barr, please bring back more believable story lines. And we're still waiting for a book set in Alaska, where over half the land NPS manages is located! I'm sure Kate Shugak wouldn't mid too much if Anna spent some time mushing near gold claims in DENA, or sea kayaking among cruise ships and humpbacks at GLBA, or dealing with end-of-roaders in McCarthy (WRST).

I've written reviews for several Nevada Barr novels over the years, and they've all be 5-stars: not this time.

In the other Anna Pigeon novels, the plot builds through the various day-to-day activities of the NPS Ranger, allowing the reader to become familiar with the National Park du jour and the secondary characters. Here Barr breaks that pattern. The raft trip ordeal comes first and we learn about the other stuff on the run. This makes for a fabulous read for the first 100 pages, but leaves the reader with the post-adrenalin blahs for the next 100 pages of nuts and bolts talking. And more talking.

Nor is plot structure the only change. While Barr generally gives us access to the minds of various villains throughout the series, it's always in a very limited way and only to supply elements of the plot that would otherwise require pages of awkward narration. Here we spend a great deal of time in the mind of Darden, an ambiguous character, and the result is infelicitous. While Darden is well drawn, his sub-plot isn't, and we get way too much of both. By using the Darden narrative to break up Anna's compelling adventures, Barr invites us to dislike the man. As other reviewers note, the whole political plot is less interesting - much less interesting -- than the river plot and the link between them is, frankly, implausible.

Barr's writing - always solid and sometimes outstanding in the other novels -- isn't up to her own standard here. For example: she has developed a lamentable fondness for the pretentious use of "one" as a pronoun. Non-Brits should avoid this construction like the plague. At its best, the pronoun can set a quaint and or campy tone for a Jeeves sort of narrative, but that's hardly appropriate for south Texas. And, sadly, Barr makes the mistake of every overambitious college sophomore, starting a sentence using "one," but sliding into the ubiquitous "they" before she reaches the end. Gruesome. Between the writing problems and the top-heavy political plot, the middle of the book sinks into the silt of boredom.

It sinks into boredom, only to be swamped by hyperbole.

One of the things I most admire about the series is its physicality. Barr puts Anna in physically demanding confrontations, in life-threatening conflicts with the elements, in fights for her life. Anna is the most-scarred woman protagonist I know. But here, as with the plotting, Barr gets carried away. The psychic damage Anna suffered in the last novel manifests as PTSD; the battering and dehydration from the raft trip are extreme; the emotional response to the baby is overwhelming. And then there is the slam-bang ending.

Enough already. Even if Anna can survive all this, many readers can't. While I want to see Anna stand up to physical abuse as bravely as Sid Halley or Jason Bourne, I'm no fan of S&M, and Barr brings us close to that by the end of this unlikely adventure. And speaking of the end, Barr switches from the gory to the maudlin in the flick of a paddle. It's the worst ending I've read in a long, long time.

Anna Pigeon fans won't wish to miss a chapter of her life, but the first-time reader may find this book appalling.

I've written reviews for several Nevada Barr novels over the years, and they've all be 5-stars: not this time.

In the other Anna Pigeon novels, the plot builds through the various day-to-day activities of the NPS Ranger, allowing the reader to become familiar with the National Park du jour and the secondary characters. Here Barr breaks that pattern. The raft trip ordeal comes first and we learn about the other stuff on the run. This makes for a fabulous read for the first 100 pages, but leaves the reader with the post-adrenalin blahs for the next 100 pages of nuts and bolts talking. And more talking.

Nor is plot structure the only change. While Barr generally gives us access to the minds of various villains throughout the series, it's always in a very limited way and only to supply elements of the plot that would otherwise require pages of awkward narration. Here we spend a great deal of time in the mind of Darden, an ambiguous character, and the result is infelicitous. While Darden is well drawn, his sub-plot isn't, and we get way too much of both. By using the Darden narrative to break up Anna's compelling adventures, Barr invites us to dislike the man. As other reviewers note, the whole political plot is less interesting - much less interesting -- than the river plot and the link between them is, frankly, implausible.

Barr's writing - always solid and sometimes outstanding in the other novels -- isn't up to her own standard here. For example: she has developed a lamentable fondness for the pretentious use of "one" as a pronoun. Non-Brits should avoid this construction like the plague. At its best, the pronoun can set a quaint and or campy tone for a Jeeves sort of narrative, but that's hardly appropriate for south Texas. And, sadly, Barr makes the mistake of every overambitious college sophomore, starting a sentence using "one," but sliding into the ubiquitous "they" before she reaches the end. Gruesome. Between the writing problems and the top-heavy political plot, the middle of the book sinks into the silt of boredom.

It sinks into boredom, only to be swamped by hyperbole.

One of the things I most admire about the series is its physicality. Barr puts Anna in physically demanding confrontations, in life-threatening conflicts with the elements, in fights for her life. Anna is the most-scarred woman protagonist I know. But here, as with the plotting, Barr gets carried away. The psychic damage Anna suffered in the last novel manifests as PTSD; the battering and dehydration from the raft trip are extreme; the emotional response to the baby is overwhelming. And then there is the slam-bang ending.

Enough already. Even if Anna can survive all this, many readers can't. While I want to see Anna stand up to physical abuse as bravely as Sid Halley or Jason Bourne, I'm no fan of S&M, and Barr brings us close to that by the end of this unlikely adventure. And speaking of the end, Barr switches from the gory to the maudlin in the flick of a paddle. It's the worst ending I've read in a long, long time.

Anna Pigeon fans won't wish to miss a chapter of her life, but the first-time reader may find this book appalling.

I read this book because I have a home near Big Bend National Park. A detective story taking place in the park has great potential. This book fails for various reasons. First, it is simply boring as a detective novel. The pace is tedious. I could have put the book down at any point and left it totally "uncurious" as to what happens next. The only suspense was during the last 20 pages and even this was pretty lame.

Second, the underlying purpose of Anna Pigeon in all of the various Natl. Parks could be good. But, believe it or not, all I could think of was that this was a nice way for the author to get a tax write-off for her travels.

One of the major aspects of a trip to Big Bend is the rafting trip down the Rio Grande through St. Helena's Canyon. Fine, the author got this right. But other than that, she has totally failed to capture the beauty of 90% of the park - the badlands, the erosion, the heat, the dry air. She has not captured the reality of the place. In addition, the author fails to capture the real border tension and the real border issues. The book takes the most superficial swipe at the park that one could have obtained doing one hour of research on the computer.
I give this a huge minus star.

It simply was not worth reading on any level. Yes, harsh, but true. I can't imagine why someone would rate this 3,4,or5 stars.

I'm an Anna Pigeon fan who owns all the books and waits anxiously for each new one to hit the bookshelves!
But this one truly disappointed! I have always enjoyed the character development of Anna and, too, her surrounding "players" amid the National Park settings. The 'behind the scenes' information from a National Park Ranger's perspective about the National Parks themselves has been part of what has drawn me to each new book. The storylines, however unnerving or macabre at times, have always created a literary world to step into and to read voraciously to get to the "twist" at the end. And most of the time when I got to the end, I didn't want to be there; I wanted there to be more to read. But not this time.
I had this plot figured out halfway through (very amateur in plot development this time); it was nothing more than a 400 page news story for which I see the ending everyday. Imagine a front page story being written by a journalist with nothing but time on his/her hands. I get enough name-dropping headline drama everyday in the newspaper - I don't need to read what Barr's opinions are on contemporary personalities, however a-political in her choice of name dropping she was trying to be.
Where was the character development of Anna and Paul's relationship when they finally get time to spend together in their new marriage? That and so much other development (the other rangers - Freddy, the "Diablos", etc) was missing in this one. The subplot of the cow was superfluous to the story itself. If it hadn't been there, no one would have missed it. Why not develop Chrissie or Cyril, even Carmen, in a deeper more involved manner?
Yes, the 'Border' issue is an issue that is contemporary in nature and still needs resolution. It includes proximity to National Parks. (But she even re-created the "real" park this time.) A plot could have been developed to such a greater and more powerful extent without the political sidelines, and certainly without a 400 page storyline of political personages and their dalliances.
I want to go back to the strength of 'Blind Descent' or 'Firestorm' each of which had me on the edge of my seat until I got to the end.
I hope this isn't a trend. Up to now, this has been one of my favorite all-time series.
If you're new to the series and to Anna Pigeon, read one other than this one. This one is as weak as the politicos Nevada Barr included in her storyline.

We're long time fans of Nevada Barr and her noir park ranger Anna Pigeon. This book is a real page turner, well written and lots of action amid a beautiful national park. It is a welcome departure from the winter's Isle Royale nightmare adventures of Barr's prior book. The warmth of the Texas sun shines on Anna's darkened spirit as she manages another astonishing series of highly creative adventures, spiced with Texas politics, homage to women and children, and the mighty Rio Grande. Borderline is a good read.

The Anna Pigeon novels have gotten more and more violent, graphic and unbelievable as they went on. Just how many gruesome murders can one person come upon?
This one started out wonderfully so I was drawn in again thinking we are now going in another direction--Anna looking more at herself and her motives. Anna showing a softer side. However the killing began again in the first part. I thought that was the end of it until the second half when an odd turn of the novel had us watching even more killing and attempted murders.
This is the very last Nevada Barr novel I will purchase or read.

I too have read the Anna Pidgeon series and loved them all except for the last two. In Winter Study, while the plot was decent, there were behaviors that were implausible, which infected the story line. There is no way that young couple would have suffered no consequences for what they set in motion.

What I'm feeling in the recent books is endings are being rushed as though there is a deadline that has to be met. The resolutions are choppy and leave some loose threads, leave questions.

I just don't feel that her heart or attention are focused on her work. It's like she's writing to have a book out for the publishers instead of for her readers.