Regular marked price: $24.95Discount Price: $16.47
Cost Savings: $8.48 (34%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780399154584
ISBN number: 0399154582
Label: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Manufacturer: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 370
Printing Date: April 01, 2008
Publishing house: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Sale Popularity Level: 4425
Studio: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Anna Pigeon returns—in the remarkable new novel from the New York Times–bestselling writer.
It is January, and Park Ranger Anna Pigeon is sent to Isle Royale in Lake Superior to learn about managing and understanding wolves, as her home base of Rocky Mountain National Park might soon have their own pack of the magnificent, much-maligned animals. She’s housed in the island’s bunkhouse with the famed wolf study team, along with two scientists from Homeland Security, who are assessing the study with an eye to opening the park each winter—effectively bringing an end to the fifty-year study—so that it can be manned to secure the scrap of border with Canada.
Soon after Anna’s arrival, the wolf packs under observation begin to act in peculiar ways. Giant wolf prints are found, and Anna spies the form of a great wolf from a surveillance plane. The discovery of wolf scat containing alien DNA leads the team to believe that perhaps a wolf/dog hybrid has been introduced to the island. When a female member of the team is savaged, Anna is convinced she is being stalked, and what was once a beautiful, idyllic refuge becomes a place of unnatural occurrences and danger beyond the ordinary. Alone on an island without electricity or running water, with temperatures hovering around zero both day and night, Anna fights not only for the wolves, but for also her own survival.
Filled with the nail-biting suspense, richly drawn characters and gorgeous nature writing that are her hallmarks, Winter Study is vintage Barr, proving once again that she’s “a real writer, in every sense of the word” (The Denver Post).
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
I started following Anna Pigeon in Track of the Cat, a book I checked out of the library because it had the word "track" in it back when I was just learning to track. Since then I have read every book I could find by Nevada Barr, even those without the famous Anna Pigeon in them because when it is all said and done, this writer will be a classic. The Anna Pigeon in this latest book has lived through so many harrowing mysteries that she has gained skills and savvy that make her almost a different character. Who says a female protagonist needs to be a ditz? Not that Anna doesn't get hurt in this one, but she gives as good as she got. This is a read where you don't find yourself frustrated with the main character being stupid. Instead you are right with her unraveling the mystery as she does, only being spared the physical pains.
Rated by buyers 
-
Where to start with this book? My very first gripe - not a new one - is an irritating grammar issue. I almost quite reading after five words, because there it was: "Ann'd." For heavens sake, Nevada, cut that out. It's distracting, poor grammar and diction, found in speech but not in writing.
And that plot. Good grief. Was there an editor anywhere in the contiguous 48 states who could have helped? Characters wandered in an out and it was honestly hard to keep track of them, because some were fleshed out so little. And what a pack of weirdos. I think the wolves showed great restraint in not eating them all. Immediately.
Why oh why is Homeland Security always the bad guy? And could it have been more obvious? And if Bob What's his name is supposed to be Katherine's grad prof mentor, and he has so little knowledge of wolves, when she seems to be the expert, how does that work in real-life academia? Hint, it doesn't.
Why on earth does Anna Pigeon seem to hate men so much? It's almost embarrassing. Poor Paul.
And that climax. It went on so long I got bored. End a book, lady. Leave us wanting more, not less.
I could go on. This is enough. Never again.
Rated by buyers 
-
I am an avid Nevada Barr fan and have read all her published books to date. After waiting patiently for its release, "Winter Study" is a real disappointment, especially when compared to "Flashback", "Deep South", or her particularly well written "Bittersweet".
I had the sense of being "trapped" by limitations of the subject matter and setting: a study of wolves on an isolated and ice-bound island with a small handful of suspicious characters sharing a bunkhouse. Anna's formula for getting into serious trouble twice during the story -- once in the middle and once at the end -- has become predictable. Missing are the insightful and amusing telephone conversations with her sister Mollie, which usually help to give the characters and story depth and allow us to relate better to them. The wolves themselves could have offered more interest. The premise is just too far-fetched and many of the predicaments, including the ending, are just too drawn out. I found it very difficult to connect to the story or the characters.
If the release of this book was delayed because of the effects of Katrina, then I suggest that New Orleans and the hurricane might have provided far better material for a more interesting and engaging story.
Rated by buyers -
I had a tough time getting into this book and after about 50 pages I dropped it off at the library after waiting a very long time to get it. On page 44 when Anna could not stand to take a walk or be in a cabin with a fat person I found it offensive and no longer liked her.
Rated by buyers 
-
This represented my very first Nevada Barr novel and I found it fast-paced and enjoyable to read. The kids and my husband and I just got back from a trip along the Minnesota shore-line of Lake Superior, including taking a boat out to Isle Royale . (Does anyone else feel that Isle Royale obviously correctly ought to be part of Minnesota? It's far closer to Minnesota geographically, topographically, and distance-wise than it is to Michigan.) I got the book from the University library where I work thinking it would be an apt read for our trip. My husband read it very first (he's more of a mystery/suspense buff than I) and then I read it. I really found that I could hardly put it down as it just moved along and drew me in, beautifully creating a creepy atmosphere and on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense. Bravo for that!
On the con side however, there were some errors that were highly annoying. Early on, mention is made of the boatloads of visitors who arrive daily from Grand Marais, MN. Au contraire, the commercial Minnesota boat tours depart from Grand Portage, NOT Grand Marais. In the description of the unfortunate researcher who is brutally savaged and whose ankle is broken, Anna talks about a compound fracture of the femur. The femur is the large thigh bone, not a bone in the ankle. Near the end of the book Anna's shoulder is dislocated, but in the initial description of the event it is mentioned that she felt her ulna pull loose. The ulna is one of the two bones in the lower arm--I'm guessing Ms. Barr meant the humerus, the long bone that runs from shoulder to elbow. These are minor errors, but are more than mere typos. They distract from the novel and can make a reader lose respect for the writer. Doing your research means not making errors of this sort that feel hasty or lacking in smarts.
Also, as a few other reviewers have noted, the story didn't hold together as well as it might've as it drew to an end. I felt a little let down as some of the details (distance of hikes or ski excursions, recovery time from significant physical hardships) were unrealistic and the denouement was a bit of a stretch.
In all, though Winter Study wasn't a "great" novel, this was an enjoyable read and I looked forward each day to the evening when I could pick up the book and get engrossed in the spooky excitement.
Find other books like this one:
