Widowmaker

Mike Bowditch #7

by Paul Doiron

Librarian’s note: This is a previously-published edition of
Kindle ASIN: B018291NM4.

In Paul Doiron's riveting novel Widowmaker, Game Warden Mike Bowditch is on the trail of a ruthless vigilante amid the snow-covered mountains of Maine

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 is the illegitimate son of Jack Bowditch, Mike’s dead and diabolical father—and 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 leads Mike on a desperate search for answers—one that takes him through a mountainous wilderness 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. Can Mike finally exorcise the demons of the past—or will the real-life demons of the present kill him first?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Suspense, Audiobook

317 pages, ebook

First published June 14, 2016

About the author

Paul Doiron is the best-selling author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels set in the Maine woods.

His first book, The Poacher’s Son, won the Barry Award and the Strand Critics Award and was nominated for an Edgar for Best First Novel. His second, Trespasser, won the 2012 Maine Literary Award. His novelette “Rabid” was a finalist for the 2019 Edgar in the Best Short Story category. Paul’s twelfth book, Dead by Dawn won the New England Society’s 2022 Book Award for Fiction, as well as his second Maine Literary Award. It was also a finalist for the Barry Award. His books have been translated into 11 languages.

Paul is the former chair of the Maine Humanities Council, Editor Emeritus of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, and a Registered Maine Guide specializing in fly fishing.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course I think it's a good book! I hope you do too. Thank you for reading.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of Widowmaker through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Minotaur Books and especially to Paul Doiron who always turns out a remarkable read.

"You are exceptionally bad at following helpful advice, Bowditch. It's almost a gift."

And so begins another Bowditch leap into the jagged woods of Maine as a district game warden who doesn't always follow the rules. Bowditch follows the breadcrumbs and the crumbs scatter to parts unknown.

It's mid January and Mike Bowditch spots an unknown vehicle parked down the road from his cabin. This is an isolated spot and Mike keeps his lonely residence from the prying eyes of others. He approaches the vehicle cautiously and finds a well-makeuped woman behind the wheel chain smoking like a bonfire on football night. She reveals some knee-jerking information to Mike that her son is missing and this young man may be related to Mike in a way that he never imagined.

Mike, reluctantly, assures this smoking zealot that he will begin inquiries into her son's disappearance. With not much to go on, Mike picks away at the clues that he uncovers. It's a tangled, do-not-enter, crazy, convoluted trail that Mike sets foot on. What he finds is a page-turner for sure.

For those new to the Mike Bowditch Series, please note that this is a standalone book as well as the others. You can read this one first and then begin with Book #1 to fill in the backstories of Mike at the beginning of his career and the unstable and fiery relationship he had with his father, Jack.

Doiron has a gift when it comes to capturing the beauty of Maine and the unfolding of Mike's journey into the world of district game warden. Each book approaches and presents a different aspect of the uncertainties of life within the verdant woods of this New England state and the craggy episodes that await Mike.

This was a different approach this time by Doiron. The adventures seemed to encircle Bowditch this time rather than the usual actions piercing through Mike as a causal factor. I still have my issues with Stacey (Sorry, Doiron) as she gets on my last nerve. She attempts to direct his life at every turn. Our guy Mike cannot be put on anyone's shelf.

The writing is pure Doiron: "In this world, it doesn't matter if you're guilty or not. What matters is if someone else needs you to be guilty."

Ah, another good one! Just keep 'em comin', Paul Doiron. Just keep 'em comin'.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike is taken back to the place of his childhood. His father had a violent history and Mike is hesitant to get involved when a woman shows up asking for him to help. She informs him that her missing son is his half brother, Adam. But being Mike, he does help, and finds a top-secret base with even daker secrets.

This was another well written, gripping, atmospheric, and hard to put down book by Doiron and a nice addition to the series. There is plenty of action, tension, and danger. Plus, there is a wolf hybrid!

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Puzzling and lacking cohesive excitement, I will not be reading any other stories in this series. 1 of 10 stars!

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book in a great series. The unique wildlife and small community problems faced by Maine Game Wardens is a learning experience in every book. Mike Bowditch continues to develop as a character and seems to be leaving his rebellious rookie days behind him. There's a balance between impulsiveness and heroism that makes him unpredictable and wonderful to follow.

This book takes place around an older Maine ski resort area that's changed hands recently and is operating at less than capacity. Mike is on leave, but gets involved in a search for a missing parolee that could be his half-brother. He has historical ties to the area and there are several issues left unresolved to Mike's satisfaction.

Most importantly......I love reading about hip-deep snow when my phone says it feels like 108 degrees outside.

[Sharon Huether · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between trying to find a missing person and capturing a wolf dog, Warden Bowditch was a very busy man. Next he get a call about murder and mayhem at a near by logging camp.
All in a day's work for Warden Bowditch.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series, I love the location and I love Maine Game Warden, Mike Bowditch. This series just keeps getting better and better and in this book we learn about the possible chance that he may have a long-lost missing half brother which puts Mike in a quandary as he tries to find out what could have possibly happened to him. Memories of his father resurface and the goings on at the ski resort, Widowmaker where his father use to work, and the mysterious camp for released sexual offenders add to the stew.

A great read! Highly recommended!

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 review to follow.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Doiron has an English degree from Yale and an MFA in creative writing. Surprisingly, this results in writing that is efficient, direct, and nuanced in its humor. His characters seem real, their actions modeled on genuine human behavior. With Lauren Pulsifer, for example, I realized that I was imagining her as my neighbor across the way. Shadow the wolf-dog, though, 90% wolf and 10% dog, seemed too good to be true. Nor did I buy for a second that Mike Bowditch was 28. Everything running through his head, plus the amount of life experiences under his belt, marked him as 38-44 at a minimum.

Several things are left unresolved at the end, but Doiron, as if going off-trail on a snowmobile, followed alternate plotlines and resolved other things, so it didn't especially matter.

[Hrn1947 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, but the ending was shaky. Loose ends abound.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this 7th book is Paul Doiron's "Mike Bowditch" series!

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

With his girlfriend Stacy out of town and a few days off due to an injury, Game Warden Mike Bowditch gives in to a plea from an old girlfriend of his notorious father that she help him find her missing son. While the case is a dark one involving sexual predators, Doiron depicts the Maine landscape with such detail that readers can feel the icy wind and hear the howling wolves. A fast-paced and thoroughly engrossing read.

[Jon Knepp · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 book/day

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book from Mr. Doiron as Mike Bowditch is back on the job as game warden and tangles with a pair of druggies and captures their wolf-dog. He has also been approached by a woman who is asking for his help in finding her son missing for a private facility for sex-offenders and she offers an argument that catches Mike completely off guard and has him thinking about his father again. I am glad I found this author as I really enjoy his books.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many loose threads that were never finished - the wolf dog and the sketchy sanctuary, the secret Navy base, whether Adam really was Mike's brother. It felt like the author came up against a deadline or a page limit, and hit print when the book could have used 50 more pages to really flesh out what could have been his best book to date.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. However it lacked the pull and intrigue of Precipice. Don't get me wrong it was an enjoyable read.
The ending for me lack completion, it was Mr. Doiron was not sure how to wrap it up, so he just ended it.

This will not stop me from reading his next book.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt this book was a bit unfinished. Lots of moving parts and storylines that just seemed to fizzle. Not really sure what the hell happened and why. I am also not a fan of Stacey. Getting a bit old to hear her referenced as “the pretty one” and to deal with her attitude.

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: WIDOWMAKER by Paul Doiron
(MIKE BOWDITCH #7)

I really love this engrossing series set in Maine, focusing on Game Warden Mike Bowditch, formerly Angry Young Man bending rules till they shriek, now somewhat more settled, a man whom nothing escapes--the perfect observer. Throughout the series we are privileged to watch Mike mature, and develop as a law enforcement official, as well as gradually discovering his backstory.

In WIDOWMAKER, Mike is drawn into a missing person investigation, uncovering a secretive government base, and vigilantism. Character depth and nonstop action set a fast-paced, intriguing plot.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fast-paced adventure with Mike Bowditch! . . . I'm trying to slow down in listening to these, since I have only 4 more on the backlist to enjoy.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the seventh book in Doiron’s crime series featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch. (In Maine, game wardens are full law-enforcement officers, with all the powers of state troopers: “They are the ‘off-road police.’”)

Mike, 28, has been a game warden for five years, and has been dating Stacy Stevens. Stacy is a wildlife biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Currently she is up north in Ashland, Maine, studying a dying-off of moose in the state, so Mike is on his own.

A beautiful but crass and manipulative woman, Amber Langstrom, shows up at Mike’s door, asking for his help in finding her son Adam. She claims Adam is the illegitimate son of Mike’s father, and therefore Mike’s half-brother. Mike’s father is dead, but when he was alive, he had been “the most notorious criminal in Maine: a legendary poacher turned cop killer and fugitive.” Mike has been struggling to get out from under the shadow of his dad’s reputation, but can’t resist finding out more about this missing 21-year-old who might in fact be related to him; in addition to everything else, his father was known as a “ladies’ man.”

Mike explains letting himself being talked into looking for Adam by admitting: ‘I have always had a foolhardy streak,” and allowing that he has “a chronic addiction to adrenaline.” But then there is also: just being stupid.

Without any proof from Amber except a photo in which Adam displays eyes remarkably like Mike’s dad’s (but also remarkably like Amber’s), Mike heads up to the area near the [fictional] Widowmaker Ski Resort, where Amber works. Adam has been living nearby there in a halfway house for convicted sex offenders released from jail. Adam served two years for the crime of statutory rape, which Adam’s mother insists was actually consensual sex.

Mike contacts Gary Pulsifer, the district warden for the area, for more information on the case. Mike decides that “everything [Gary] told me about Adam’s character - his cockiness, his fighting temper, his marksmanship with a deer rifle - made me think the missing man really might be my father’s second son.” [Because those characteristics are hereditary? And uniquely so? Really? The author is a really smart guy, and has consistently painted Mike as one too. It seems he wanted to give Mike an “excuse” to think this guy really was his brother, but this stretches credulity….]

In any event, there is much obfuscating by local residents who hate sex offenders; a variety of murders; and Mike’s own life is endangered.

There is also a side plot about a wolf dog that doesn’t have much to do with the rest of it, but actually was more interesting to me than the main plot, and much less irritating for a number of reasons.

Evaluation: This is probably my least favorite of all the Mike Bowditch books, but I like the series, and I love the focus on a Maine game warden that enables readers to learn a great deal of background about Maine wildlife. I’ll be hoping for better things with the next book!

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#7 in the Mike Bowditch series. Amber Langstrom approaches Mike and tells him her son Adam is missing from a lumber camp populated by sex offenders unemployable elsewhere. Adam had just been paroled after doing a stretch for statutory rape. After Mike turns her down, she drops the bombshell - Adam is Mike's half-brother, the son of Jack Bowditch, a deceased notorious poacher and murderer. Mike's search takes him to the area of Widowmaker, a ski area where Jack had once been employed and where Mike keeps encountering people who regard him as the son of a murderer. The case doesn't end with all loose threads tied up so perhaps a future series entry will revisit the area and its denizens.

Mike Bowditch series - 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. 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. 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.

[Alecia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a stand-alone, so I was not familiar with the Mike Bowditch character. I didn't feel as if this was a problem, although I'm sure it would be a bonus to follow the character and get to know him.

Mike Bowditch is a game warden in Maine, and this fact alone sets this fast-paced, well-written mystery apart from others in this genre. The descriptions of animals and environment are very interesting apart from the plot.

A woman in distress appeals to Mike, claiming her missing son, Adam, is Mike's half brother. Adam is a convicted sex offender and he has vanished from a brutal work camp around the Widowmaker Ski Resort. Mike proceeds to explore this case, compelled by thoughts of his deceased, estranged father and potential half brother. This takes him through the Maine wilderness and provides encounters with variety of odd and deviant characters.

Doiron writes in a very clear, concise and also evocative way. I would give this book 3.5 stars and would be interested in reading another entry in this series.

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took a very different turn than the previous stories in the series. After building a conspiracy theory complete with characters and motives, the author leaves the whole scheme in limbo with no resolution. Instead he uses an unlikely confession to a crime to close the book. Would someone who wants to sell their home kill all their neighbors as a solution?!? Really, is that a plausible strategy even for a mildly deranged misanthrope? Also, the story is built around a ski resort, and while the hero talks about skiing, and his experiences, he never actually does it. He goes to do it, but instead magically (and randomly) pulls out a tin with his fathers ashes and spreads them on the mountain top. In fact I don’t think anyone skis at all in the entire story named for a fictional ski resort. Very strange turn for an otherwise well written story. Hope this was just a mis-step for Doiron and not some foray into a “new realist fiction” that aims to be above “closure.”

[Chris Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mike Bowditch series keeps getting better and better. Now that Mike is no longer careening down a path of self destruction, the stories seem stronger and more interesting. There is still plenty of mayhem but now, finally, it is tempered by his insight and terrific intelligence.

[Christine Heng · Rating 3 out of 5]

It kept me wanting to read on, which is good. But not a fan of the ending. So much left unsaid.

[Wynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like Stacey.

[Capt. H. Hornblower Of His Majesty’s Navy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Widowmaker
Mike Bowditch #7
By Paul Doiron

Warning ⚠️ This review may contain plot-sensitive content.

Overview 📝
Mike might try to run away from his past but his past always catches up to him. So is the basis for the story in Book 7, “WidowMaker”. After taking a break from the series, I’m happy to have returned. Mike is a flawed character who has a huge chip on his shoulder, yet has somehow managed to create an honorable reputation for himself in the Game Warden services of Maine. Having such a checkered past mainly from his outlaw of a father, Mike encounters people who either love him for trying to turn over a new leaf, or hate him because of his dad.

The Good 😊
1. I love how stalwart, determined, and close to the vest Mike is with his activities in and out of the game service. He is his own man.
2. I really enjoyed the side plot of Shadow the wolf dog, and of learning about wolves in general. For that matter, the author does a great job in sharing interesting facts about nature and wildlife in general throughout his novels. (The author notes at the end of the novel that Mike got his degree in History from Maine’s Colby College, and that he writes in historical info to remind readers of Mike’s interests.)
3. When Bowditch cites this or that Maine code it really helps the feel of the novel from a law enforcement perspective.
4. Mink was an interesting plot device that really helped expand Mike’s investigation in the respective area.
5. While the nature of the case (a missing person’s case) is not the most interesting of police procedural novel pursuits, the author does find ways to make the story interesting through mystery and people stonewalling him and hints at conspiracy.

The Meh 🤢
1. Bowditch demanding to be told what was whispered in secret at the end had a very juvenile quality to it.
2. A certain amount of foul language felt forced by certain characters.
3. Not sure what the point of Mink’s alter ego was about.

Final Thoughts 🤔
There were a few minor annoyances in this novel but by and large I felt like Doiron redeemed himself from the flop of his last book. I’m knocking a star off due to how straight forward the plot was. There were no twists, no surprise endings. Though his writing was solid, everything finished up pretty humdrum.

4 ⭐️

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry in the Mike Bowditch series. This time, Mike is paying the price for not being totally honest with his girlfriend, so he decides to just look into the disappearance of someone who may have a shocking relationship to him. He heads off to the northern woods and the ski area called Widowmaker, where he riles things up and gets into trouble, in that Mike Bowditch Way.

A very interesting story, with some pretty stunning lose threads, purposefully left alone, which is an interesting dramatic choice. I am not sure if future novels will revisit these, but it seems like they just might. And also as usual, he does a great job of giving plenty of local Maine color and history. There were also a couple pretty shocking developments in Mike's own life.

And also as usual, Henry Leyva did an excellent job narrating the audiobook. He may try a little too hard at some of the Maine accents, but maybe that is just my ear. A couple small local pronunciation mistakes, like calling it a "lee-ver" action 30-30, and not a "levver" action one, but otherwise an excellent narration. I have already borrowed the next one in the series, Knife Creek.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series just keeps getting better. Who knew the life of a Maine game warden could be so full of adventure and danger. The main character continues to impress with the growth of his judgement and maturity, and the author has kept this maturation at a believable rate with each new book. It really is like watching a beloved but raw, impulsive, self-destructive kid become this impressive, competent grown-up. Just to keep it interesting, Mike still makes some rash and not well-thought out decisions, (an incident of a pet wolf comes to mind in this one) but his instincts are better so he usually avoids disaster now. One of the things that still frustrates me a bit about the series is that some of the most knot-headed and mean-spirited characters Mike encounters are also in law enforcement, but, in fairness, some of the most noble and self-sacrificing are as well. This one had Mike dealing with some unfinished business with the death of his father while he searched for a missing escapee from a near-by camp of paroled sex offenders. And in spite of a distance separating them, the relationship between Mike and Stacy continues to grow. The fact Stacy is beginning to grow on me is a sign of how besotted I've become with this series.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

In fairness, I would rate this 3.75, but the chapters about Shadow, the wolf-dog who is mostly wolf, are so intriguing that I had to give it 4 stars. Doiron's series about a Maine game warden is in many ways the Northeastern equivalent of C.J. Box's acclaimed series about a Wyoming game warden. Both offer insight into the mindset of the people who live in remote corners of the vast American landscape, a world away from my suburban just-outside-the-Beltway milieu.

The description of working in constant snowstorms is so vivid that you may need a hot toddy to get you through this if you happen to be reading it, as I was, on a cold winter's night.

A quote:
Game wardens couldn’t afford to be sentimental about wild animals. Those feelings were a luxury that belonged to first-world people who no longer had to think about the cycle of predator and prey—people who could afford to remain ignorant of how life actually played out on planet Earth.