Hard Truth (Anna Pigeon Series #13)

Marilyn Stasio

[Barr] has real feeling for creatures who live in the wild, especially women who can't be tamed.
— The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

In Barr's taut 13th thriller to feature Anna Pigeon (after 2004's High Country), the 50-ish National Park Service ranger leaves her new husband, Paul, back in Mississippi, to assume a new post in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, where she encounters a serial killer and a strong, determined woman, Heath Jarrod, much like herself. Heath, a former ice climber now confined to a wheelchair after a near-fatal fall, feels depressed, isolated and helpless. She's camping in the national park with her physician, who's also her aunt, when a pair of battered young girls, two of three missing from a nearby religious retreat, appear at the campsite. Heath and Anna at first dislike one another, but join forces to break the silence enforced by the retreat's domineering head and discover why the youngsters vanished, who took them, where they were and what happened to the third girl. Barr skillfully weaves contemporary issues of parental responsibility, religious and political separatism, and sexual abuse into her harrowing story. She carefully sets the scene in the first part of the book, which builds to a spectacular climax that pits Anna against evil incarnate. Noted for her precise plotting and atmospheric descriptions of nature, Barr again proves her skill in putting believable characters in peril against a backdrop of breathtaking scenery. Agent, Dominick Abel. National author tour. (Mar. 24) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Being a new bride doesn't change Anna Pigeon as she leaves her husband in Mississippi for a new post as district ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. What Barr does here is allow another character to share the burden of the plot. A paraplegic visitor to the park, Heath Jarred inadvertently rescues two of three girls who have been missing prior to Anna's arrival. Anna and Heath prove to be compelling adversaries, as they try to find the truth and save the girls from one of Barr's most disturbing villains and/or the mysterious religious sect from which they come. The plot twists are among the author's most complex, creating a well-paced story. Read masterfully, as usual, by Barbara Rosenblat, this 13th Pigeon mystery is one of the best of the series. Recommended.-Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Married but living a thousand miles from her bridegroom, National Park Service ranger Anna Pigeon gets another harsh lesson in just how badly men can behave. You'd expect jubilation when two of the three young girls missing from their campsite and presumed dead emerge from the wilderness. But in Rocky Mountain National Park, where Anna's dream job as district ranger has separated her from her husband, Paul Davidson, the return of Beth Dwayne, 12, and Alexis Sheppard, 13, spooks Anna but good. The girls' closemouthed families, stalwart members of the Reformed Saints, refuse to let them talk to psychiatrists, get examined by rape counselors or accept any but lifesaving medical assistance. And Robert Proffit, the born-again youth group leader on whose watch they disappeared, is acting not so suspiciously as weirdly. Counting for help on backcountry ranger Raymond Bleeker and seasonal ranger Rita Perry, Anna's not at all sure she can trust them. Her most dependable ally will be paraplegic climber Heath Jarrod, still raging over the accident that put her in a wheelchair. Together and separately, the two women will confront a series of human predators who show how thin a line separates men from beasts. If the escalating horrors, which make Anna's first 12 novels (High Country, 2004, etc.) seem kind and gentle, don't stand your hair on end, make an emergency appointment with a therapist, or book a tour of the National Parks, where you'll evidently be right at home. Author tour