Game Warden Joe Pickett Mike Bowditch just got a call about a bear attacking a man’s prized pig.  Mike’s just a rookie serving the Game and Fish department of the State of Maine in the middle of nowhere, so taking on a bear on his lonesome isn’t exactly an attractive prospect. But, it beats the hell out of learning a few hours later that a car was ambushed, killing two men that included a sheriff’s deputy, and that the chief suspect is Mike’s own dad.    Mike doesn’t think much of his father: the man was a drunk and ne’er do well whom women were inexplicably drawn to and who more or less abandoned his family when Mike was just a youngun’.    But both men are drawn toward the life of the outdoors, and there are certain bonds that even the Olympian gods can’t shake – like that of a father and son. Against wisdom, against the advice of his superiors – against anyone who might occasion to offer advice, in fact – Mike holds to the idea that his father Jack, while being a bar-brawling SOB, would never murder in cold blood.  In this, he is partially aided by a retired warden with an airplane, who thinks Jack could very well be guilty, but thinks there’s more to the story than is currently known. The result is both an action-thriller, a mystery, and a compelling character drama about a man who stands to lose everything…and very well might. This is an interesting story in part because it deals with how we deal with failure — that of those we look up to, and of ourselves, since Mike doesn’t necessarily make the best calls here. The reader gets to enjoy his venturing out on an extreme limb, though, holding fast to what he believes and pursuing the truth even though everyone is telling him to rein it in.

I’ve since read another in this series, and I don’t think I’ll take it it as obsessively as Joe Pickett: first, my library doesn’t have all of the collection, and while Maine is interesting it’s not…..Wyoming interesting. I mean, it’s woods. I have woods at home. Granted, these have moose in them, but hills and woods aren’t exactly an escape for me, even with the addition of a coast. Also, I really want to read some nonfiction despite the current scheduled reviews being 100% nonfiction Characterization is so far the strong suit: I liked Mike well enough, but especially enjoyed his sergeant and the retired warden who appears to have a more mentor-role in later books, judging by what I’ve read since.