The glow of a lit cigarette is a startling flash of light
in the early dark of a cold and bitter
January evening. Game Warden Mike Bowditch is a little
concerned over who might be sitting in a car outside his
house, especially as he is alone at his place near
Sebago Lake.
Mike is surprised not only by the strange woman, but also
by the fact that she seems to know something about him.
Turns out Amber Langstom was looking for him to help find
her missing son and she has an ace in the hole for how to
get Mike's attention. What secret is she hinting at?
What had happened at Widowmaker, the old ski hill, in the
past? What is happening now at WIDOWMAKER that is so
strange?
The state of Maine is a rugged place resplendent with its
own special northern and forested beauty, filled with
hardy and good-hearted characters as well as some more on
the strange and not so law-abiding side. Paul
Doiron does an exceptional job in bringing them all vividly
and instantly to life from the first page to the last in
WIDOWMAKER, the seventh book in his terrific Mike
Bowditch mystery series. Each book in the series
presents a new mystery to grapple with as well as
continuing to further develop Mike as a likeable
protagonist as well as enhancing his skills and career
goals as a Game Warden.
If you enjoy writers, such as C. J. Box and Craig
Johnson, you are sure to be thrilled to discover Paul
Doiron. Like them, Doiron's books are most optimally
savored in sequence as one can really see how Mike
further develops his investigative skills and insights
into others. As his many fans will attest, this really
adds to the plot development and this is particularly the
case with WIDOWMAKER as more of the backstory to Mike's
notorious father is revealed.
Hands down, I am a fervent fan of Doiron's books and my
little quibble with WIDOWMAKER is that the writing, so
exceptional in some passages, seems a bit washed out in
others as if a thread in the storyline is forgotten or
dropped. I particularly relished the sixth book in the
series, THE
PRECIPICE, and the introduction of Mike's new
feisty girlfriend: Stacey Stevens, a state wildlife
biologist, who is minimally involved in WIDOWMAKER.
Still, WIDOWMAKER is a very good easy reading mystery and
while it can be read as a standalone story, its
surprising conclusion will definitely leave the reader
wanting more. Doiron definitely makes me wonder about
what happens to a new nonhuman character in the story and
what happens next with Mike and Stacey. Personally, I
can hardly wait for the next installment!
So, strap on the skis and check out this snow filled
WIDOWMAKER! You will be glad you did! A winter
adventure to enjoy without getting snow in your boots!
In Paul Doiron's Windowmaker, When a mysterious woman in distress appears outside his home, Mike Bowditch has no clue she is about to blow his world apart. Amber Langstrom is beautiful, damaged, and hiding a secret with a link to his past.. She claims her son Adam is a wrongfully convicted sex offender who has vanished from a brutal work camp in the high timber around the Widowmaker Ski Resort. She also claims that Adam Langstrom is the illegitimate son of Jack Bowditch, Mike’s dead and diabolical father. He is the half-brother Mike never knew he had. After trying so hard to put his troubled past behind him, Mike is reluctant to revisit the wild country of his childhood and again confront his father’s history of violence. But Amber’s desperation and his own need to know the truth make it hard for him to refuse her pleas for help. In search of answers, Bowditch travels through a mountainous wilderness to a place hidden from the rest of the world, where the military guards a top-secret interrogation base, sexual predators live together in a backwoods colony, and self-styled vigilantes are willing to murder anyone they consider their enemies. Mike Bowditch must exorcise the demons of the past before the real-life demons of the present kill him first.