With thoughts of romance, Game Warden Mike Bowditch is thrilled to take a short vacation break from his busy job in as a Game Warden in Maine to spend time with his new girlfriend Stacey Stevens. As a biologist with Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the headstrong and intelligent Stacey is very comfortable with Mike's work environment. Her dad, Charley Stevens, is not only a former Warden Service pilot as well as having been Mike's mentor as he started his career. Mike has high hopes of taking this relationship to a new level, but a telephone call to their cabin soon turns this tryst into vacation interruptus. A search and rescue operation is on for two missing female hikers on the Appalachian Trail and Mike is critically needed to help with the search.

Despite the toughness of the steep terrain on the Hundred Mile Wilderness section of the trail and the strangeness of his fellow searcher, this is the kind of job that Bowditch knows every effort has to be made as time is everything and they are rapidly running out of time and hope. What could have happened to the two young newly graduated university students?

When their mangled bodies are found, the search turns quickly into an investigation into who or what could be so savage and rumors fly. Yet. as Mike follows his scant leads, the hunters become the hunted. Will the killer or killers strike again? Who will be the target next?

Bestselling author Paul Doiron sets the bar very high with THE PRECIPICE, the sixth book in his award winning Mike Bowditch mystery series. While I have to declare my bias as I am a total fan of Doiron's books, I really appreciated the development and increased maturity in Mike Bowditch. As the main protagonist he handles his role in this investigation well, learning to rein in his fast understanding of situations and instincts with a better understanding of the need for teamwork. If you are new to Doiron's books and are familiar with other protagonists such as C. J. Box's Joe Pickett and Craig Johnson's Sheriff Walt Longmire, you will be glad to add THE PRECIPICE and Mike Bowditch mysteries to your top reading shelf as you immerse yourself in the deep woods of Maine and its various human and animal inhabitants that Doiron as a Registered Guide knows so well.

Doiron's personal knowledge of Maine's landscape provides for a strong sense of place and instantly pulls the reader into the story. His fast paced plot development makes THE PRECIPICE a real page turner that will make it very difficult to put down as I know from personal experience. Bowditch is a very likeable person and one gets a good sense of his own awareness of his actions as he reflects on his experiences and past cases. Doiron's secondary characters are quickly sketched, but do jump immediately and vividly to life as their mannerisms, attitudes and speech are described in a very authentic manner and his strong sense of knowing how to write interesting dialogue keeps the story moving and the reader in suspense.

If you are looking for a fast paced and captivating mystery, I highly recommend THE PRECIPICE. Not only is this a great stand-alone investigative novel for new readers of Doiron and long standing fans are sure to relish the twists and turns facing Mike Bowditch as he confronts tricky situations in THE PRECIPICE. As a further treat for readers hungry for more in this series, the eagerly awaited next installment, THE WIDOWMAKER, has also just been released. It is now top on my list of books to read and I am sure that it will be on yours as well, but be sure to check out THE PRECIPICE first!