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Kate Shugak #15
A Deeper Sleep
In A Deeper Sleep, her first novel since Blindfold Game, the stand-alone political thriller that made Dana Stabenow a New York Times bestseller, Stabenow returns to the popular and award-winning Kate Shugak series.
Kate, a private investigator, has been working on a case for the Anchorage District Attorney involving the murder of a young woman by her husband, a man named Louis Deem. Deem has been the subject of investigations before, and he's never been convicted of a crime. But Kate and her on-again, off-again lover, state trooper Jim Chopin, who arrested Deem, are convinced that this time it's different, and he'll finally be punished for his actions.
When the jury returns a verdict of not guilty, Kate and Jim are devastated, and like the rest of the citizens of Niniltna, Alaska, certain that a man has gotten away with murder. They can't help but think that it's only a matter of time before he's in the frame for another killing. Sure enough, a few weeks later a shooting leaves two dead in an apparent robbery. But this time Kate and Jim have a witness, and they're not going to let Louis Deem get away again. Or will he?
Dana Stabenow, Edgar Award–winning author and New York Times bestselling thriller writer, delivers a gripping page-turner about one town's search for justice—at any cost.
Kate, a private investigator, has been working on a case for the Anchorage District Attorney involving the murder of a young woman by her husband, a man named Louis Deem. Deem has been the subject of investigations before, and he's never been convicted of a crime. But Kate and her on-again, off-again lover, state trooper Jim Chopin, who arrested Deem, are convinced that this time it's different, and he'll finally be punished for his actions.
When the jury returns a verdict of not guilty, Kate and Jim are devastated, and like the rest of the citizens of Niniltna, Alaska, certain that a man has gotten away with murder. They can't help but think that it's only a matter of time before he's in the frame for another killing. Sure enough, a few weeks later a shooting leaves two dead in an apparent robbery. But this time Kate and Jim have a witness, and they're not going to let Louis Deem get away again. Or will he?
Dana Stabenow, Edgar Award–winning author and New York Times bestselling thriller writer, delivers a gripping page-turner about one town's search for justice—at any cost.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
180 people are currently reading
1014 people want to read
About the author
Dana Stabenow
101 books2,133 followersDana Stabenow was born in Anchorage and raised on 75-foot fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 252 reviews
April 23, 2017
I have read many in the Kate Shugak series but not in order. I love the series for many reasons including the strong sense of location in frozen Alaska, the community who I have got to know and adore, including the ne'er do wells, and for the kick ass Kate with her yellow eyed, loyal, half wolf, Mutt. Here, Kate and state trooper, Jim Chopin's relationship is in the process of becoming more solid as Jim bows to his inner feelings that Kate is not going to be another casual sexual encounter.
The story begins with Louis Deem, a man who has become accustomed to ridding himself of all his wives permanently and is consistently nothing but bad news for the local community, has once again been acquitted by a fearful and intimidated jury. No woman is safe once he is free again. Kate, Jim and others are rightly furious. Then tragedy follows as Bernie's wife, Enid, and his son, Fitz, are fatally shot, and the shaken Johnny is the only witness and survivor. He testifies that Deem is the perpetrator, unfortunately that is insufficient to hold Deem, who has an alibi in his latest fiance, Abigail. Deem continues to abuse women. Will Deem continue to escape justice?
I feel a real sense of comfort in returning to Alaska, Kate, the Park Rats, the aunties and the others. Even the local community hub, The Roadhouse, is an integral part of the world Dana Stabenow weaves that holds the reader spellbound. You feel as if you are right there in the midst of the action and that you know the characters, that is how good the writing is. A fabulous series. The latest in the Kate Shugak series is coming out soon. Can't wait!!!
The story begins with Louis Deem, a man who has become accustomed to ridding himself of all his wives permanently and is consistently nothing but bad news for the local community, has once again been acquitted by a fearful and intimidated jury. No woman is safe once he is free again. Kate, Jim and others are rightly furious. Then tragedy follows as Bernie's wife, Enid, and his son, Fitz, are fatally shot, and the shaken Johnny is the only witness and survivor. He testifies that Deem is the perpetrator, unfortunately that is insufficient to hold Deem, who has an alibi in his latest fiance, Abigail. Deem continues to abuse women. Will Deem continue to escape justice?
I feel a real sense of comfort in returning to Alaska, Kate, the Park Rats, the aunties and the others. Even the local community hub, The Roadhouse, is an integral part of the world Dana Stabenow weaves that holds the reader spellbound. You feel as if you are right there in the midst of the action and that you know the characters, that is how good the writing is. A fabulous series. The latest in the Kate Shugak series is coming out soon. Can't wait!!!
January 21, 2020
A good Kate Shugak novel as bad guy is acquited for what is surely his third murder and law enforcemnt and townspeople are very upset. When the bad guy himself is murdered how do you narrow the suspect list down to a manageable few? Chapter Two begins with about a 3 1/2 page homage to the wonders of Alaska that is worth the price of the book. Do not miss it. Highly recommended.
February 24, 2023
Three plus stars for this book by an author new to me. Kate is a petite but tough investigator working for the DA in Anchorage. A local man, scourge of the town, has committed heinous crimes, most on the women who share his bed. Thus far, Louis Deem, has left insufficient evidence for criminal conviction. In this newest case, there’s an eyewitness, never mind that he’s just 14 years old and the son of Kate’s former deceased lover. The wife of the owner of the local watering hole and her son Fritz have been brutally murdered. There’s no forensic evidence. Just the eye witness report of Johnny.
As luck would have it, the Court deems there is insufficient evidence to hold and prosecute Louis for the murders. Kate and her current squeeze Jim, also law enforcement, need to dig deep to find something that will stick. Who broke into Bernie’s house? What was the intruder after? Who did Bernie’s wife and son accidentally encounter that day?
As luck would have it, the Court deems there is insufficient evidence to hold and prosecute Louis for the murders. Kate and her current squeeze Jim, also law enforcement, need to dig deep to find something that will stick. Who broke into Bernie’s house? What was the intruder after? Who did Bernie’s wife and son accidentally encounter that day?
June 22, 2020
Kate, Jim, Aunties and several park rats will never be the same. This book was another wowzers read, shocking moments, horror filled seconds and hours of circling sharks. There is a tick of a man in the park, he spreads death and pain. The whole park knows it but has little recourse to stop him. He's bad, sickening, I wanted him dead from the first meeting of him in the book and he gets worse. Good people get killed, innocent young lives ended, the tick or ? You want more read the books from book 1. These series is the best.
I do worry for Kate and Jim. Secrets can wedge and infect after a time. I hope they are spilled before ti comes to that
I do worry for Kate and Jim. Secrets can wedge and infect after a time. I hope they are spilled before ti comes to that
June 8, 2018
This book is book 15 so erhaps not the best moment to enter a series, however in its defense it is a very easy to read book. You get most important information served to you while reading.
This book is not so much as a whodunit but far more a whydunit and shows the world of this particular place in Alaska that is partly a national Park. The baddie Louis Deems does hurt people, especially his wives they tend to die and leave him with an nice inheritance. And yet there is never any evidence of his wrong doings they cannot be proven by any court of law. Even PI Kate Shugak can not alter this fact.
A great description of a society taking care of it self. Very easy to read and well written. My second experience with Stabenow is once again a positive one. I shall continue.
This book is not so much as a whodunit but far more a whydunit and shows the world of this particular place in Alaska that is partly a national Park. The baddie Louis Deems does hurt people, especially his wives they tend to die and leave him with an nice inheritance. And yet there is never any evidence of his wrong doings they cannot be proven by any court of law. Even PI Kate Shugak can not alter this fact.
A great description of a society taking care of it self. Very easy to read and well written. My second experience with Stabenow is once again a positive one. I shall continue.
July 26, 2022
This is an Alaskan Crime/Mystery. I've read a few of these and I have liked them. I like the MC, Kate.
She is tiny but mighty and for some reason she is always being physically harmed in each book. She may run out of injured body parts. But for the most part, I like picking her books up when I get a chance. There is always something new happening with each one that I've read which includes character progression. I also like that you don't really have to read these in sequential order.
I loved the term "Spenard Divorce". That still has me laughing. So 4 stars.
She is tiny but mighty and for some reason she is always being physically harmed in each book. She may run out of injured body parts. But for the most part, I like picking her books up when I get a chance. There is always something new happening with each one that I've read which includes character progression. I also like that you don't really have to read these in sequential order.
I loved the term "Spenard Divorce". That still has me laughing. So 4 stars.
May 19, 2021
I cannot believe what I’ve just read. Talk about a plot twist! I also can’t believe the author went in this particular direction with this series, either. And it makes me wonder what effects this will cause in the series, later on. I certainly hope Kate and Chopper Jim’s budding relationship isn’t effected badly by this, in the future. Things finally seem to be settling down now. I’d hate to see them split up over this...
But yeah it seriously blows my mind, that the ending happened like that. Great job, Stabenow!
The audiobook is also quite shorter than any of Stabenow’s others in the series, coming in at a mere 7 hours and 19 mins. I know, that seems like ages, doesn’t it? But it’s really short, compared to the others, believe me.
Bernadette Dunne is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, instead of the usual Marguerite Gavin. I don’t know why, but I’m guessing Gavin wasn’t available for this novel.
At first I didn’t like the change at all, but then Dunne’s voice characterizations kinda grew on me. The only quibble (and it’s a slight one) that I had with Dunne’s work was that she pronounced Kate’s grandmother Ekaterina’s nickname (Ima?) wrong. But maybe she just didn’t know.
I’m quite certain that I’ve heard Dunne’s work before, but I’m having trouble placing her voice... maybe later on I’ll remember which audiobook I’ve run across her from. Meanwhile, she was great.
I’d still like Marguerite Gavin back, thank you very much.
September 7, 2020
Although "A Deeper Sleep" is the fifteenth Kate Shugak novel, it caught me by surprise from the beginning and kept surprising me throughout the book.
The first surprise was that "A Deeper Sleep" was narrated by Bernadette Dunne, rather than Marguerite Gavin, who has been the narrator for all the other books. I thought Bernadette Dunne did a great job. She caught every nuance of the story, but, after listening to fourteen novels with Marguerite Gavin's voice in my ear, she just didn't sound like Kate.
After a while, I began to wonder if this change was an acknowledgement of the nature of the book itself. Kate is front and centre in most of the books in the series, but not in this one. Here, she is no more important to the main plot than her state trooper lover, Jim Chopin. Most of the time, we are not in Kate's head. There are many scenes she's not in. It's as if the Park, Kate's tribe, her family and friends are over-shadowing Kate, expecting her to behave in certain ways and do certain things not just because of who she is but who they expect her to become. Kate's period of mourning is over. She's been allowed time to play cat and mouse with Jim Chopin's self-image. Now she must start to become the Elder her grandmother meant her to be.
Yet Kate's evolution, even her playful and sexually charged relationship with Jim, are background features to this novel, linking it to the rest of the series but not the focus of the reader's attention. That place is reserved for the monster of the book: Louis Deem.
Deem lives in the Park. It is well-known that he seduces and breaks women and it suspected that he kills them. They come to him voluntarily, even eagerly. When they come to understand who he is, they embrace death as a gift of release. So how has Deem survived in the Park? Why has Kate, normally a law unto herself, not done something about him? It turns out that she's tried. She's assaulted him, threatened him, even had him arrested on fairly solid evidence. None of it worked. Deem is smart, manipulative, in control of his own hate and, perhaps most scary of all, is not afraid of Kate Shugak.
When the latest failed case against Deem is followed by brutal murders and whispers of child rape, something has to be done. Yet it is not primarily Kate who does it, which is the main surprise of the book.
This is a solid story about a predator thriving in the midst of a community that seems powerless to protect itself. It's about what that threat does to the people who have to watch it without being able to stop it. It explores the moral ambiguity of taking the law into your own hands and what meeting violence with violence does to those who act. It looks at the difference between being evil and doing bad things. It is a book filled with grief and waste and impotent anger.
It seemed to me that "A Deeper Sleep" signals a change in the Park. The evils that are done here will have consequences for many of the people in the Park. The context Kate is operating in is about to change. What is being asked of her is about to change. Kate herself comes out of this book innocent of wrong-doing but I had a strong sense that this will not save her.
"A Deeper Sleep" reminded me of "Playing With Fire", the first book in the series where Kate was unable to make things right in the face of a more powerful evil. It is a reminder that the world is full of threats, that actions have consequences, and that doing the right thing the wrong way always costs.
I'm rationing myself to one Kate Shugak book a month at the moment but I'm looking forward to book sixteen in July. Much as I enjoyed Bernadette Dunne's narration, I hope that Marguerite Gavin is back for the next one and that Kate is at its heart, dealing with her new situation.
The first surprise was that "A Deeper Sleep" was narrated by Bernadette Dunne, rather than Marguerite Gavin, who has been the narrator for all the other books. I thought Bernadette Dunne did a great job. She caught every nuance of the story, but, after listening to fourteen novels with Marguerite Gavin's voice in my ear, she just didn't sound like Kate.
After a while, I began to wonder if this change was an acknowledgement of the nature of the book itself. Kate is front and centre in most of the books in the series, but not in this one. Here, she is no more important to the main plot than her state trooper lover, Jim Chopin. Most of the time, we are not in Kate's head. There are many scenes she's not in. It's as if the Park, Kate's tribe, her family and friends are over-shadowing Kate, expecting her to behave in certain ways and do certain things not just because of who she is but who they expect her to become. Kate's period of mourning is over. She's been allowed time to play cat and mouse with Jim Chopin's self-image. Now she must start to become the Elder her grandmother meant her to be.
Yet Kate's evolution, even her playful and sexually charged relationship with Jim, are background features to this novel, linking it to the rest of the series but not the focus of the reader's attention. That place is reserved for the monster of the book: Louis Deem.
Deem lives in the Park. It is well-known that he seduces and breaks women and it suspected that he kills them. They come to him voluntarily, even eagerly. When they come to understand who he is, they embrace death as a gift of release. So how has Deem survived in the Park? Why has Kate, normally a law unto herself, not done something about him? It turns out that she's tried. She's assaulted him, threatened him, even had him arrested on fairly solid evidence. None of it worked. Deem is smart, manipulative, in control of his own hate and, perhaps most scary of all, is not afraid of Kate Shugak.
When the latest failed case against Deem is followed by brutal murders and whispers of child rape, something has to be done. Yet it is not primarily Kate who does it, which is the main surprise of the book.
This is a solid story about a predator thriving in the midst of a community that seems powerless to protect itself. It's about what that threat does to the people who have to watch it without being able to stop it. It explores the moral ambiguity of taking the law into your own hands and what meeting violence with violence does to those who act. It looks at the difference between being evil and doing bad things. It is a book filled with grief and waste and impotent anger.
It seemed to me that "A Deeper Sleep" signals a change in the Park. The evils that are done here will have consequences for many of the people in the Park. The context Kate is operating in is about to change. What is being asked of her is about to change. Kate herself comes out of this book innocent of wrong-doing but I had a strong sense that this will not save her.
"A Deeper Sleep" reminded me of "Playing With Fire", the first book in the series where Kate was unable to make things right in the face of a more powerful evil. It is a reminder that the world is full of threats, that actions have consequences, and that doing the right thing the wrong way always costs.
I'm rationing myself to one Kate Shugak book a month at the moment but I'm looking forward to book sixteen in July. Much as I enjoyed Bernadette Dunne's narration, I hope that Marguerite Gavin is back for the next one and that Kate is at its heart, dealing with her new situation.
February 14, 2023
How hard can it be to convict a murderer? Well in A Deeper Sleep by Dana Stabenow this is one of the problems they face. Then ther is all the usual stuff like will Kate and Jim be a couple or not, how will the spring turn out and will Kate manage to bake some baguettes? So many questions. I do really enjoy this series.
September 29, 2015
This Kate Shugak book focus on domestic violence and exploitation of the earth resources. The Native American community of Niniltna. Louis Deem who has been a trouble maker for a long time is found not guilty of murdering his wife again. Two murders occur at the Roadhouse and there is an eyewitness to Louis being the murderer but he has an alibi. There are enough twists and turns to kee your guessing. this series has graphic violence and sex.
March 30, 2024
A deeper sleep
I am not sure how many of these Kate SHugak books I have read in the last few days, but gosh, I am enjoying them. I know they are out of order, but I have to take them as I find them in the library.
In this one, Louis Deem is either back or shows up.. for me, it was back.... (out of order reader, remember?) Like all of the books, there is a political aspect to it, but this one was above the issues of the environment of Alaska. This series is like Lays Potatoe Chips, you just cannot read just one... you have to come back for more and more.
As I mentioned in another review Ms. Stabenaow has wonderful characters who are all fully developed in the series and have interesting lives.
I just love the series and cant wait til I open the next one.
5 stars
Happy Reading!
I am not sure how many of these Kate SHugak books I have read in the last few days, but gosh, I am enjoying them. I know they are out of order, but I have to take them as I find them in the library.
In this one, Louis Deem is either back or shows up.. for me, it was back.... (out of order reader, remember?) Like all of the books, there is a political aspect to it, but this one was above the issues of the environment of Alaska. This series is like Lays Potatoe Chips, you just cannot read just one... you have to come back for more and more.
As I mentioned in another review Ms. Stabenaow has wonderful characters who are all fully developed in the series and have interesting lives.
I just love the series and cant wait til I open the next one.
5 stars
Happy Reading!
November 2, 2021
No one wins in this one. Only more problems were created. More secrets…
March 25, 2014
I seem to be eating these Kate Shugak books up. I just finished A Deeper Sleep, which focuses a lot on The Park and its people/culture. The murder mystery was quite complex though it looked simple on the surface. Kate and Jim's lover life at times seems likes it's rolling right along, and then something comes up to cause some backwards steps. The book ends with several strings dangling, and of course I will be reading #16 in the series, Whisper To The Blood.
February 25, 2015
This is my first book read of this series and by this author. I could follow the story line even though it's in the middle of the series. Ms Stabenow is a clear enough writer for this type of story and I appreciated the Alaskan landscape and culture. I found the characters, on which so much of the story rests, to be shallow.
It really isn't my type of story. I did not think it lived up to being a thriller and a mystery (unless it the mystery was keeping up with the sleeping partners).
It really isn't my type of story. I did not think it lived up to being a thriller and a mystery (unless it the mystery was keeping up with the sleeping partners).
June 16, 2019
One of the best Shugak novels of all time.
June 4, 2017
This was a really interesting story. It was a mystery but to me it was never really solved. It was solved in your mind because you were reading what other people were thinking but never solved for the people in the town where it happened. Partly because the policeman was trying to protect a special needs relative of his girl friend which I guess was the right thing to do, maybe later in another book this all comes out since this is a series. Lots of local information about Alaska and the locals with have lived there forever. Very interesting. I would definitely read another book in this series. I did like the main character, Kate, and her dog.
August 22, 2023
An improvement over the last one. What is particularly interesting about this installment is the ending. That ending gives us something to think about for a good while.
May 21, 2024
This one was a good one. Look, you get hooked on Kate Shugak because it affords you a look into rural Native Alaskan life. Every story always has at least some of that life woven into the plot, somme more than others. The better ones bring that life to the forefront. This book does that and it is an excellent read.
March 6, 2021
A rare serious look at what happens when someone terrible is the murder victim. What do you do? How do you do your job? How much are you willing to live with?
August 20, 2021
Least favorite of series so far. No resolve of issues to my satisfaction. And hated different narration of audio.
January 9, 2025
4.5 stars
very good writing!
very good writing!
September 18, 2024
Another good mystery by Dana Stabenow.
December 22, 2019
This is the first Kate Shugak story that I've read (actually listened to audiobook) and I liked it enough to want to read more. I do think it ended rather abruptly. It makes me think I didn't get the whole download.
February 26, 2023
new note: Reading these books out of order is slightly surreal. Dead men are still part of the plot, people who have hooked up already are still at the meet-cute stage.
Still a great story, 5 stars, and even more for sisters standing up for each other.
===
Guy's 3rd wife is dead - is Lois Deem going to jail yet? Nope. He's laughing all the way out of court. He hasn't been convicted of any of his other crimes, either, because he is a mean mean man and everyone in the park is afraid of him. Even when he's locked up awaiting trial.
Kate Shugak's aunties are mad at her because this guy is still walking around. Why didn't he, say, break a leg in bear country? or fall into a river? So many ways to die by accident, Katya, why is this bad man still breathing? Kate is too law-abiding for her aunties.
Not so sure I like the trope of wife-killer = monster + criminal, since so many wifebeaters (and the subcategory of wifekillers) seem to be nice, law abiding men.
Meanwhile, the 'drill or no drill' argument is still going on from previous books, someone (Deem & co?) is smuggling booze and other items, and new people are moving to the Park. Or near the park. One family with many many children and an interesting take on Xtianity is right near the Park, are they encroaching? Oh, and their pretty eldest daughter engaged to be married to one nasty fella? And does he pre-empt Kate's warning to the family by smiling and saying she had her chance, but he's in love with someone else now? Yeah, way to make a fair warning sound like a jealous cast-off lover. :(
Surprise! Deem ends up dead. Whodunnit? Lots of twists and turns, and may the right man face justice. Face the law, not so much.
Also, adults with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome should not fall under the influence of men like Deem :(
Still a great story, 5 stars, and even more for sisters standing up for each other.
===
Guy's 3rd wife is dead - is Lois Deem going to jail yet? Nope. He's laughing all the way out of court. He hasn't been convicted of any of his other crimes, either, because he is a mean mean man and everyone in the park is afraid of him. Even when he's locked up awaiting trial.
Kate Shugak's aunties are mad at her because this guy is still walking around. Why didn't he, say, break a leg in bear country? or fall into a river? So many ways to die by accident, Katya, why is this bad man still breathing? Kate is too law-abiding for her aunties.
Not so sure I like the trope of wife-killer = monster + criminal, since so many wifebeaters (and the subcategory of wifekillers) seem to be nice, law abiding men.
Meanwhile, the 'drill or no drill' argument is still going on from previous books, someone (Deem & co?) is smuggling booze and other items, and new people are moving to the Park. Or near the park. One family with many many children and an interesting take on Xtianity is right near the Park, are they encroaching? Oh, and their pretty eldest daughter engaged to be married to one nasty fella? And does he pre-empt Kate's warning to the family by smiling and saying she had her chance, but he's in love with someone else now? Yeah, way to make a fair warning sound like a jealous cast-off lover. :(
Surprise! Deem ends up dead. Whodunnit? Lots of twists and turns, and may the right man face justice. Face the law, not so much.
Also, adults with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome should not fall under the influence of men like Deem :(
September 14, 2015
Set in a National Park in Alaska, this series captures the isolation and at the same time, the sense of community in this place, where towns are damp, potlatches are held to remember the deceased, and moose marrow broth is the base ingredient in French onion soup.
Kate Shugak, the central character, is a Native Alaskan who is a PI and former police officer. Like the rest of the park residents she is outraged when Louis Deem, a smooth man who has had the misfortune to lose two young wives, is acquitted of the murder of his third wife. More than one person wishes the man dead.
Then a new family with several daughters and a possible stake in a gold claim moves into the park, illegally felling trees for a road and hand-building a cabin. They are befriended by the widower, to Kate's displeasure. She and State Trooper Jim Chopin, Kate's on-and-off lover, keep the man under observation. Two ne'er do wells who live with Deem but are more likeable, provide alibis when a bar is robbed and a woman and boy are shot dead. Johnny, Kate's adopted son, tells the police he is sure that he saw Deem robbing the bar. The danger of his position is underlined when Mutt, Kate's wolf dog, is shot and injured.
More than once the characters remark on global warming; they are able to drive roads which were previously only accessible by snowmobile during winter. Sadly it seems that whatever is changing, wife beating and greed are not. There are a couple of great incidental recipes, ideal food for staving off hunger in the cold outdoor land, which can be adapted by those of us who don't have moose meat in the freezer.
Kate Shugak, the central character, is a Native Alaskan who is a PI and former police officer. Like the rest of the park residents she is outraged when Louis Deem, a smooth man who has had the misfortune to lose two young wives, is acquitted of the murder of his third wife. More than one person wishes the man dead.
Then a new family with several daughters and a possible stake in a gold claim moves into the park, illegally felling trees for a road and hand-building a cabin. They are befriended by the widower, to Kate's displeasure. She and State Trooper Jim Chopin, Kate's on-and-off lover, keep the man under observation. Two ne'er do wells who live with Deem but are more likeable, provide alibis when a bar is robbed and a woman and boy are shot dead. Johnny, Kate's adopted son, tells the police he is sure that he saw Deem robbing the bar. The danger of his position is underlined when Mutt, Kate's wolf dog, is shot and injured.
More than once the characters remark on global warming; they are able to drive roads which were previously only accessible by snowmobile during winter. Sadly it seems that whatever is changing, wife beating and greed are not. There are a couple of great incidental recipes, ideal food for staving off hunger in the cold outdoor land, which can be adapted by those of us who don't have moose meat in the freezer.
May 26, 2016
I have no idea why M. Gavin was not back to narrate this installment of the Kate Shaguk story but it was terrible disappointing. If Ms. Dunne had read the previous novels I probably would have like her, but she suffers in comparison. Ms. Gavin is Kate. She is the perfect voice for the strong, loyal Aleut woman we love.
Now, as to the story. This one is not my least favorite. Nor is it in the top favorites either. It is a decent mystery, with a incomprehensible crime. The antagonist was a bit too evil making him a caricature. Bobby remains off the canvas. And there wasn't much story about Alaska either. I found it an average book, and nothing more.
Now, as to the story. This one is not my least favorite. Nor is it in the top favorites either. It is a decent mystery, with a incomprehensible crime. The antagonist was a bit too evil making him a caricature. Bobby remains off the canvas. And there wasn't much story about Alaska either. I found it an average book, and nothing more.
June 15, 2008
The truth? Much as I adore Dana Stabenow’s “Kate Sugak” series, I didn’t think this was one of her strongest. It was -- and pretty much remained -- slow-paced, and the focus was far less on Kate than customary. Sure, Alaska as a backdrop is an enticing environment. It is in this story, too. But I buy the Kate Shugak books because I want to be caught up in Kate’s life. And though character is paramount to me, if I’m reading a mystery, I want it to move along. That isn’t the case in this book.
Worth reading? Yes. Worth remembering? Not especially.
Worth reading? Yes. Worth remembering? Not especially.
June 12, 2017
How many times can I say how much I love this series about a former DA investigator who returns home to live and work on her homestead in Alaska? You really get to know the characters as they all return in future books and Kate Shugak is one of my heroes for her courage, her fortitude, her toughness and her kindness. This time a local who has a "habit" of abusing and killing his wives gets acquitted again and the locals are NOT happy about it. I'll say it again. READ THIS SERIES!
June 13, 2018
This volume in the Kate Shugak series tackled some interesting problems for her. There is the relationship with Chopper Jim Chopin, raising Johnny, and dealing with the ongoing deaths of the many wives of Louis Deem. Additionally, the aunties are pressuring Kate to take her place on the association's board, which she does not want to do.
The ending was not neat and tidy, but rather likely foreshadowed the next book. Definitely putting it on my next library list!
The ending was not neat and tidy, but rather likely foreshadowed the next book. Definitely putting it on my next library list!
June 30, 2017
This is book 15 in a series ( I think) My first time reading her. I enjoyed the story. Liked the main characters. Think it is my first book with native Alaskan peoples as the major characters. It is a murder mystery/police drama. I loved that she baked bread when upset. That dough got a work out.
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