Ricky Pine's Blog

Firestorm by Nevada Barr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice..." And for this fourth Anna Pigeon novel, Barr couldn't decide on one or the other, so why not both? Set at Lassen Volcanic National Park, the book begins with a fire raging through the woods, quickly followed by a winter storm to trap Anna with several other wildland firefighters, one of whom is almost certainly a murderer. With its particular setting in far Northern...

Ill Wind by Nevada Barr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The third Anna Pigeon novel returns to the same sort of environment as the first book in the series, this time set at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, where Anna comes to appreciate the remains of the old Native culture (this book still calls them by an old name now considered outdated, though it wasn’t seen as such in 1995), while also having to deal with a strange sickness befalling park visitors. With a more urgent...

A Superior Death by Nevada Barr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Anna Pigeon’s second story trades in the Texan desert heat of Guadalupe Mountain National Park for the eerie chills of Isle Royale, and all the shipwrecks in Lake Superior surrounding the park. This story probably won’t be so easily adaptable for the USA/Crave TV series, since I can’t imagine a place as landlocked as Glacier would have too many shipwrecks to spare. But it’s a good shift in tone away from the first ...

The Devil by Name by Keith Rosson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fever House ended with the promise of a nearly uncontrollable apocalypse as the riots that inflamed Portland spread all around the world, and this book concludes the duology with the survivors struggling to piece together what's left, and potentially track down someone who may be able to fix the devil's damage. In order to that, they have to get the chosen one out of France - which makes me wonder how much of The...

Fever House by Keith Rosson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first of a duology set in Portland that helps make Keith Rosson the truest heir apparent to Stephen King's empire of Northeastern horror, with Rosson heading up the Northwestern outpost of King's style. It's like if The Stand was split into two books, with Randall Flagg largely hanging in the periphery, and a particular angel held under the corporate auspices of the US government, all while a whole bunch of regular...

The Dorians by Nick Cutter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book caught my eye at Indigo on my trip to Vancouver, BC (the Granville store to be precise), and I put down a nice red C$50 note on this, plus a goosey little bag to store my souvenirs. And let me tell you, it was money well spent. A uniquely Canadian spin on certain Frankenstein tropes, with a touch of Jurassic Park and Cocoon in the DNA, it’s a fast paced and very creepy sci fi horror story about a group of olds...

Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Bobiverse was starting to lose me with Book 3, but this book, nearly double the length of its predecessor, nevertheless held my interest far better than All These Worlds ever did. Part of the reason for that, I think, was because it predominantly follows the Bobs on one particular world, getting a deep dive into the culture of the seemingly cute and cuddly - but also very smart and cunning - Quinlan species....

All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

So…originally, this was the end of the series? Before Saga Press bought it up and reissued all the hardcovers, plus text editions of the follow up Audible originals? That is, if I have my understanding of this series and its jump from indie to mainstream correctly. I probably don’t, but then again, I can say the same about Dungeon Crawler Carl. Similarly to that series, just as I suspected, this one is startin...

Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first entry in this long running series that’s been on my periphery for years, it only crossed my radar for real with the release of the new USA/Crave TV series adaptation, whose first episode takes the story of this book and transplants the setting from Guadalupe Mountain National Park in Texas to Glacier National Park in Montana. The series got me good because of how much it throws back to the Blue Sky era on...

Coastal Views to Die For by Sam Lumley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oliver and Ricky are back for a second travel assignment that turns into a murder mystery, this time set in the fictional Rose Beach on the Oregon coast. While the first book somewhat riffs on Glass Onion by dealing with a stupid and obnoxious tech bro CEO, this book is much more Knives Out as it deals with a toxic family whose secrets are coming out in the will. Additionally, the relationship between Oliver...