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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not for the sensitive, this book brings out a new side to Anna Pigeon, the National Park Ranger.
Anna has taken a holiday with her new husband Paul, a man of God who thankfully does not break into prayer every time events go awry. As they raft calmly down the Rio Grande with a team of youngsters, Anna is recovering from a breakdown caused by the trials of her stay on Isle Royale. One girl endearingly decides to rescue a starving cow stuck on a cliff ledge, a more dangerous operation than it first appears.
The start of the book shows us a different woman, a Mexican woman who is heavily pregnant and attempting to cross - legally - into America to have her baby. Now on Anna's expedition the almost dead body of another pregnant woman is found trapped in a logjam across the river. With a rainstorm upstream sending extra water down and their equipment lost, the group then becomes trapped in a canyon.
As Terry Pratchett remarked, it is a truth universally known that a policeman on holiday barely has time to open his suitcase before finding a dead body.
Anna has a dead woman and a live newborn on her hands - as the EMT she has to make decisions. The group is in danger of being washed away so they decide to climb the canyon wall, and now someone unknown starts sniping at them from the top.
A sizeable part of the book is occupied by chapters about the musings and doings of an almost-past-it security guard who looks after a political personage on tour nearby. This device to let the reader in on some of the background to events takes the place of Anna being able to run a criminal investigation, which is not easy to do if you are trapped between rising floods and a sniping madman on a rocky ledge without a working phone. However the security man himself and his chapters singularly failed to hold my interest so they just came across as padding with a sparse sprinkle of clues - oh, that's a scandal in the making, oh that guy is reckless and conscienceless. Many devoted readers will be skipping these ramblings, and they won't be missing much.
The most interesting and well realised passages are firstly, the drawing of and banter between the student rafters, who are each somewhat one-dimensional but fun, and Anna's sudden determination to keep her tiny charge alive no matter what. Childless, she has no experience in babycare and is devoid of supplies but her suddenly awakened maternal instinct ensures she never gives up and the new life restores some of her faith in the future of humanity.
The tale explores some issues to do with Mexican immigrants and the closed border but not in depth, and it is the least wildlife-aware of any of Barr's books, with not an endangered Mexican wolf to be seen. There is quite a lot of unpleasantness and death which, with the boring padding, make Borderline my least favourite of Barr's works. Still, it has good moments. Like the starving cow. We're cheering for that cow.
Anna has taken a holiday with her new husband Paul, a man of God who thankfully does not break into prayer every time events go awry. As they raft calmly down the Rio Grande with a team of youngsters, Anna is recovering from a breakdown caused by the trials of her stay on Isle Royale. One girl endearingly decides to rescue a starving cow stuck on a cliff ledge, a more dangerous operation than it first appears.
The start of the book shows us a different woman, a Mexican woman who is heavily pregnant and attempting to cross - legally - into America to have her baby. Now on Anna's expedition the almost dead body of another pregnant woman is found trapped in a logjam across the river. With a rainstorm upstream sending extra water down and their equipment lost, the group then becomes trapped in a canyon.
As Terry Pratchett remarked, it is a truth universally known that a policeman on holiday barely has time to open his suitcase before finding a dead body.
Anna has a dead woman and a live newborn on her hands - as the EMT she has to make decisions. The group is in danger of being washed away so they decide to climb the canyon wall, and now someone unknown starts sniping at them from the top.
A sizeable part of the book is occupied by chapters about the musings and doings of an almost-past-it security guard who looks after a political personage on tour nearby. This device to let the reader in on some of the background to events takes the place of Anna being able to run a criminal investigation, which is not easy to do if you are trapped between rising floods and a sniping madman on a rocky ledge without a working phone. However the security man himself and his chapters singularly failed to hold my interest so they just came across as padding with a sparse sprinkle of clues - oh, that's a scandal in the making, oh that guy is reckless and conscienceless. Many devoted readers will be skipping these ramblings, and they won't be missing much.
The most interesting and well realised passages are firstly, the drawing of and banter between the student rafters, who are each somewhat one-dimensional but fun, and Anna's sudden determination to keep her tiny charge alive no matter what. Childless, she has no experience in babycare and is devoid of supplies but her suddenly awakened maternal instinct ensures she never gives up and the new life restores some of her faith in the future of humanity.
The tale explores some issues to do with Mexican immigrants and the closed border but not in depth, and it is the least wildlife-aware of any of Barr's books, with not an endangered Mexican wolf to be seen. There is quite a lot of unpleasantness and death which, with the boring padding, make Borderline my least favourite of Barr's works. Still, it has good moments. Like the starving cow. We're cheering for that cow.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
96 reviews
50 of 56 people found the following review helpful
(4.5) "Politics, love and ambition are draconian."
7 April 2009
Format:Hardcover
I have to say I am a fan after reading my first Anna Pigeon novel. On a forced vacation after a violent incident in her last case, park ranger Anna and her husband, Paul, have signed on to a river rafting excursion in southwest Texas' Big Bend National Park, where the Rio Grande skirts the Texas-Mexico border. The adventure begun simply enough with a few college students and a capable guide, Anna and Paul are enjoying a short hiatus from their usual responsibilities. When a series of misjudgments leaves the raft at the mercy of a flooding river, the rafters are cast ashore with few provisions, their outing become suddenly more perilous. But when a sniper starts shooting at the party, the trip is run-for-your-life dangerous.
Her professional instincts reawakened, Anna is challenged even more by the discovery of the body of a pregnant woman trapped in the debris of the Rio Grande. Horror-stricken, Anna delivers the woman's unborn baby, the tiny child awakening a maternal instinct in the pragmatic Anna that amazes her. But there is no time for personal indulgence, the child's life at risk as the stranded rafters desperately climb to safety in spite of the sniper. Nearly safe, Anna and Paul stumble upon another surprise, unsure if they face friend or foe. Clearly, in Barr's novels, expedience requires quick reactions. Anna must trust her survival instincts if she is to save herself, the infant and her companions.
Meanwhile, a political rally in the park serves as a venue for Huston mayor Judith Pierson to announce her run for the governorship of Texas. A feisty and savvy politician, Pierson is a conservative Ann Richards, border issues high on her list of priorities. By Judith's side is ex-secret service agent Darden White. A long personal relationship with the mayor alerts Daren to Judith's every mood. Currently he fears there is trouble in paradise, Judith and her husband having difficulty hiding the rancor between them. Watching all with a trained eye, Darden is unnerved by Judith's actions, his concern exacerbated by the announcement of the fatal shootings and the rescue on the Rio Grande.
Soon all are embroiled in a collision of political agendas and the safety of a newborn, a maze of personal agendas as opportunistic politics intrude on the environment's pristine beauty. Barr rises above petty political positions, creating nuanced characters and the grandeur of the Big Bend National Park, violence and revenge sharply contrasted against nature's stark indifference. The beauty of this untamed wilderness is all the more poignant for the trail of dead bodies in the wake of Anna's delivery of an innocent child. Anna Pigeon is a spunky protagonist, a woman who values herself and the world she inhabits. In this well-rounded character, a woman of her generation, Barr puts the human back in nature. Luan Gaines/2009.
Her professional instincts reawakened, Anna is challenged even more by the discovery of the body of a pregnant woman trapped in the debris of the Rio Grande. Horror-stricken, Anna delivers the woman's unborn baby, the tiny child awakening a maternal instinct in the pragmatic Anna that amazes her. But there is no time for personal indulgence, the child's life at risk as the stranded rafters desperately climb to safety in spite of the sniper. Nearly safe, Anna and Paul stumble upon another surprise, unsure if they face friend or foe. Clearly, in Barr's novels, expedience requires quick reactions. Anna must trust her survival instincts if she is to save herself, the infant and her companions.
Meanwhile, a political rally in the park serves as a venue for Huston mayor Judith Pierson to announce her run for the governorship of Texas. A feisty and savvy politician, Pierson is a conservative Ann Richards, border issues high on her list of priorities. By Judith's side is ex-secret service agent Darden White. A long personal relationship with the mayor alerts Daren to Judith's every mood. Currently he fears there is trouble in paradise, Judith and her husband having difficulty hiding the rancor between them. Watching all with a trained eye, Darden is unnerved by Judith's actions, his concern exacerbated by the announcement of the fatal shootings and the rescue on the Rio Grande.
Soon all are embroiled in a collision of political agendas and the safety of a newborn, a maze of personal agendas as opportunistic politics intrude on the environment's pristine beauty. Barr rises above petty political positions, creating nuanced characters and the grandeur of the Big Bend National Park, violence and revenge sharply contrasted against nature's stark indifference. The beauty of this untamed wilderness is all the more poignant for the trail of dead bodies in the wake of Anna's delivery of an innocent child. Anna Pigeon is a spunky protagonist, a woman who values herself and the world she inhabits. In this well-rounded character, a woman of her generation, Barr puts the human back in nature. Luan Gaines/2009.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
back on track
15 April 2009
Format:Hardcover
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.
34 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Half and Half
9 April 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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!
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!
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