Trapped

Will McCarroll/Annie Peacock #2

by April Christofferson

Yellowstone backcountry ranger Will McCarroll is every poacher and trapper€™s worst nightmare. His tireless defense of endangered wildlife has made him a national hero, but when Will€™s anger over legislation allowing loaded guns in national parks causes him to break the rules one time too many, he finds himself transferred from his beloved Yellowstone to Montana€™s Glacier National Park. In this edgy eco- and political-thriller, Will soon finds in Glacier a wilderness worth defending€”and under siege from illegal trappers, a right-wing radio talk show hosting a predator derby, and members of a radical offshoot of the American Rifle Foundation.When Yellowstone Magistrate Judge Annie Peacock realizes Will has been lured into Glacier€™s backcountry as part of an ARF plot to silence him, she enlists the help of Johnny Yellow Kidney, Glacier National Park€™s wolverine biologist. Aided by locals from the Blackfeet reservation, Annie and Johnny€

Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Fiction

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 30, 2012

Reviews

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the setting which included both Yellowstone, and Glacier National Park. I found the characters interesting. Christofferson's storyline was very 'preachy' at times, not surprising that she list herself as an activist.
One of the lead characters, and series namesakes Annie Peacock I found irritating. She shows up late to check into a lodge for a conference in which she is a speaker. Attempts to cut in line at check in, doesn't check ahead to see if they take Dog's, and resolves her lack of scheduling, professionalism, and manners by screaming for a manager asking for special treatment! Later in the book Annie demands to go with the SAR team to hunt for her boyfriend, without the skill set to add value. She is injured and fractures the efforts of the SAR team.

[Zora · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the very first sentence, a Native American woman, whose POV we are in, has her heart pound "inside her brown chest." Ouch. And this is why there are sensitivity readers, people. And then the book went on to preach and preach and preach at me; despite that I didn't disagree with any of the preachy points, this is not why I read fiction. If I wanted that, I'd go to Twitter and Facebook, not to a novel.

So... bailed.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story definitely made me wonder about the extent of trapping that is still happening in and around national parks and wilderness areas, as well as the controversy about gun rights. I wish there was more focus on the wildlife aspects; however, it did make me look up wolverines and discover more about this elusive species. The plot was good, easy to follow and fast-paced, but a little scattered here and there with some side plots that seemed unnecessary. Overall, an interesting find that had a fresh perspective on some of the issues facing our national parks and wildlands.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book just wasn't good. The writing was fine, but there were like a million characters, so very few of them got much page time, and the book lost any semblance of coherence about 50% of the way in. If I hadn't been reading this for a side project, I would have DNF'ed very quickly.

There is a lot to dislike here, but one of my biggest pet peeves is the way that is villinizes certain groups of people (NRA members, hunters) and lionizes others (the Blackfeet tribe, anyone who works for the park). Grey areas exist, and this book glazes over all of them to a point that is simply unforgivable.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I recently visited Yellowstone and have hopes of going to Glacier NP. The story was good but got a little preachy at the end.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good plot and interesting characters.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good ranger story set in Wyoming and Montana.

[Douglas Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like mysteries which occur in national parks. This one starts in Yellowstone and finishes in Glacier. Similar to Nevada Barr's books. I immediately purchased the prequel to this one - "Alpha Female"

First paragraphs
One Will McCarroll’s foul mood escalated with each of Kola’s steps down the rocky trail that led from his backcountry cabin to the Pebble Creek campground. Goddamn fools. He’d been waiting for this to happen, for the middle of the night call he’d just received on his two-way radio. “Hurry down here, Will,” Betty Stanmeyer had shouted over the two-way radio she wasn’t supposed to have. Betty and her husband, Hal, served as campground hosts at Pebble Creek. “Someone’s been shot.” Will had to count on his mare’s familiarity with the narrow, rocky trail, as well as her surefootedness, to move at the slow gallop he’d pushed her into. A hint of a full moon filtered through branches of Douglas fir, but not enough to give light to the ground beneath. As they finally broke through the tree line, Will gave Kola a knee in the ribs. She’d developed a habit of pausing at this point, in response to knowing that’s what Will wanted— to pause at his first chance of the day to look at the Lamar Valley unfolding beneath them; to look out at the land he loved, the land he’d devoted his life to.

Christofferson, April (2012-10-30). Trapped (pp. 11-12). Tor Books. Kindle Edition.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited when I read the blurb about the book, as my husband and I had hiked Glacier National Park in 2010, and was curious about the mix of mystery with National Park theme and scenery. I love, for instance, the Anna Pigeon series (Nevada Barr) who does this very well. I found Christofferson's book to be a bit 'preachy' at times. The weaving of characters into (and out of) each others lives was well done, but that did not overcome the feeling that I felt that the messages she was trying to get across were being rammed down my throat.
On the plus side, I did not feel that not having read her prior book where the main character was developed was a negative, I was able to dive right in without wondering who Will McCarroll was.

[Merrikay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for something light, fast moving, hard to put down, after a couple of more difficult books, when I found this.  The setting is Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks and it involves rangers, wild animals, poachers  wild life activists and gun rights activists.  I knew I would feel as if I were spending some time in two of my favorite places, while being caught up in a mystery, and I certainly did.  I very much enjoyed this read and plan to read the other two the author has written on similar topics.  Christofferson has the knowledge,  background and experience for the topic so it is very realistic.  Four stars

[Cactuskid · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was based in Yellowstone and Glacier N.P. Since we were recently at Yellowstone it was fun to read a story from that area and know most of what they were talking about as far as Yellowstone was concerned. Glacier was totally foreign to me but sounds like a very interesting place. This was basically a political book on not allowing guns in the National Parks which is now allowed as a law has been recently passed to let legal guns in the parks. I don't think guns are needed there but then again I'm definitely for the 2nd amendment. Some of these areas are hard to figure out what's best.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read other books with will the ranger and liked them.
I liked reading about nature and Yellowstone park, glacier park, the interesting people living around them
I liked the characters, they felt real, and the love for the park real. there was a lot of anti guns in the park, and anti hunting in the book.
The mystery part was okay, no big twists.
The trapper trapped in his own trap--seemed like justice, but crewel.
enjoyable read.

[Jeanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a really good book, it was - but then it got more focused on animal rights, on protection of animals in the wild and anti - hunting, on environment, etc. I was just looking for a good crime drama or murder mystery - I actually didn't finish the book - put it down at the 1/2 way point :(

[Ashley Sherburne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast-paced, totally intriguing, lovable characters, and set in the wilderness of Glacier National Park and a small town on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation--Trapped explores the ethicality of trapping while weaving in an exciting and gut-wrenching story that makes this book hard to put down.

[Demetra Smith]

excellent book set in two awesome national parks. I went out immediatley and bought more books by ms. christofferson.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really like these characters.