Flashback (Anna Pigeon Mysteries (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: two mysteries add to atmosphere
Review: Before accepting a temporary supervisor's job at the Dry Tortugas National Park, an island 70 miles off Key West, park ranger Anna Pigeon had never heard of the place. Though most of the park is under water, the above-ground part is covered by Fort Jefferson, a brick behemoth built during the Civil War and obsolete before it was finished. The diving is fabulous, but after two weeks Anna is ready for something else to distract her from thinking about wedlock (fans will remember Sheriff Paul Davidson). She's beginning to understand how her predecessor went mad after his girlfriend left him.

Then her sister sends a box of letters from her great-great-aunt, Raffia, wife of Fort Jefferson's commanding officer in 1865, by which time the fort was a military prison, full of deserters and rebel prisoners. That same night Anna's second-in-command, a spit and polish type, goes missing on patrol. And the story - both stories - told in alternating, cliff-hanger chapters, takes off.

Raffia's story involves her 16-year-old sister, a handsome rebel soldier brutalized by a thuggish sergeant, and the arrival of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, including Dr. Samuel Mudd, who proclaims himself innocent of anything except setting the assassin's leg. Intrigue and collusion are in the charged air and a young girl's romanticism can get people killed. Barr brings the original fort to teeming life through the lonely, compassionate eyes and tart voice of a woman isolated in an uncommunicative army marriage.

The present-day story involves a number of breathtaking near-death experiences for Anna, as well as spectacular dives and dogged detective work piecing together a tangled (but not totally surprising) modern conspiracy which culminates in a gorgeously over-the-top finale. The parallel tale-telling works well to entangle the two though it can be maddening leaving Anna trapped at the bottom of the ocean with her air hose just out of reach....

But, as always, Barr's ("Hunting Season," "Firestorm") evocation of the natural setting (and the human menace) is vivid and the action scenes are among her best.

Rating:
Summary: Drags slightly here and there but enjoyable overall.
Review: I enjoyed this book but not as much as I might have because of the way the two stories-in-one break up the smooth flow of both. Those letters of Raffia's read like chapters in a book not letters and that long windedness cause's the book to drag. Also almost as soon as Sargent Synap enter's the story you know what will happen and who will be responsible. I will say that the modern story suffers not from any of this but simply from being constantly interupted and also the fact that her characters get into situations that I found very hard to buy into. Anyone who would shove a 800 pound boat engine on someone is not likely to suffer a fit of remorse and pull it off because they did not want you to suffer. But Nevada pulled off enough surprises to keep me reading and in the end I was glad I did.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: I have read all of Nevada's books, and this was one of my favorites. I did not find the jump between present day and Civil War times to be disorienting at all, in fact, I believe the interplay added to both stories. I'm devoted to Anna Pigeon, with her flaws and imperfections - she is the perfect combination of kick-ass gal with self-doubting everywoman. The diving scenes and the culminating rain-soaked scene were excellently crafted and had me on the edge of my chair. I really loved this novel, and I hope Anna isn't getting to worn out on adventure. Even though I really like her fiance', I'm not sure I want her to stop getting into trouble all over the USA!

Rating:
Summary: Lost in the Flashbacks
Review: I love Anna Pigeon. It is probably because, like Anna, I am "middle-aged" and finding my way in a world that I didn't imagine I'd find. Added to that is a history that includes many of the places in which Barr sets her stories. The descriptions of sights, sounds, and events create flashbacks of my own. But this adventure was very different. This was not the mystery I had hoped to find. I kept getting lost in the tale and had to backtrack, several times in places, just to find my way. I think Barr would have done the two stories combined here better service if she had untangled them and told them separately.

I have read every Anna Pigeon book with anticipation, and expect to see more of her is future stories. However, I hope to see more of the Anna I have come to cheer for -- that smart, spunky, intrepid woman who refuses to compromise who she is, and what she wants.

Rating:
Summary: Almost Five
Review: My girlfriend got me hooked on Nevada Barr. The setting, mysterious coincidences and twist add up to a pretty fun read. Just the ending disappoints a little.

Rating:
Summary: Audiobook Recommendation
Review: Nevada Barr is a recent delightful discovery for me, and I plan to spend my summer "traveling" through our national parks with her well-constructed Anna Pigeon stories. I listened to FLASHBACK and HUNTING SEASON on unabridged CD sets. The narrator, Barbara Rosenblatt, is just amazing! She has the most incredible talent with voices and brings each and every character to life with a different, distinctive voice for each one. Both Barr and Rosenblatt do an excellent job in FLASHBACK as the story switches back and forth from the present day and the end of the Civil War. Fascinating stories brought to life beautifully by narrator Rosenblatt. I highly recommend trying this one in audiobook format.

Rating:
Summary: Trapped in a Flashback!
Review: Nevada Barr's primary character Ranger Anna Pigeon has always been neurotic. Some times more than other times and in the last several novels she seemed to finally be just a bit less annoyingly neurotic. Unfortunately, for most of this book, Anna is neurotic and stuck in the past in more ways than one.

As the book opens, Anna is temporarily supervising Fort Jefferson, on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park off of Key West. The last supervisor of the park seems to have had a mental breakdown and is off on the mainland getting treatment after seeing ghosts and whatnot flitting around the fort. Anna has gone about as far as she can go in the Park Service to escape her own demons that haunt her by accepting this posting. She has taken the assignment so that she has time to think about a marriage proposal from Paul. Paul is still a minister, now recently divorced, and wants desperately to marry Anna. But he knows that her answer to pressure is to run as far as she can as fast as she can and has vowed to give her the time she needs to think about his offer. While she does love him, she isn't sure she is ready to once again try marriage as has been made abundantly clear several times in earlier books in this series.

Those issues remain for Anna and with little else to occupy her mind, she begins to think that she understands why the previous Supervisor went mad. Supervising a skeleton staff and very few visitors, Anna begins to look for something to occupy her mind instead of thinking about her life. Her sister Molly has sent to Anna to read a large packet of letters that were written to Anna's great grandmother, Peggy, from her sister Raffia who was married to a Captain station at the Fort shortly at the end of the Civil War. That same time saw the arrival of Dr. Samuel Mudd and Samuel Arnold after they were sentenced to prison time for their roles in the Lincoln assassination. Both men denied involvement.

Through a series of flashbacks in letter form, Anna begins to read of the heartbreak and struggle went through by Raffia during that time period. While that mystery occupies her mind, a modern day mystery involving mysterious boats at night and the near death of a Park Ranger occupies her waking thoughts. The stresses along with a series of other problems begin to take their toll on Anna and what is left of the skeleton staff. As she tries to figure out the present problems, the past continues to occupy more and more of her mental thoughts and before long; the veil between fantasy and reality for Anna becomes almost non-existent. Is she losing her mind or is she having help to crack and if so why?

Anna is at her most annoyingly neurotic during the first half of this four hundred page slow read which is something considering this is the tenth novel of the series. As she slowly loses her mind thanks to a plot device that is amazingly telegraphed like a neon sign, she sees ghosts and various apparitions. One is reminded of the many times James Lee Burke has used this same technique to great effect by way of his command of language and Nevada Barr does not come close in pulling the same effect.

Once she begins to regain her sanity and work the modern day case as well as the puzzle from the past, this novel improves tremendously. It ceases to wallow in the past on so many levels and instead moves forward steadily and with purpose. The story begins to take of with plenty of action and the many plot twists that have hallmarked her earlier work. But, one has to get through the first two hundred pages that are both literally and figuratively a "flashback" on many levels. It is ultimately worth the effort to read this book, but it is not Nevada Barr at her best. One hopes with several issues resolved apparently at the conclusion of this novel, Nevada Barr might once again bring back the Anna who was so good in her first book, Track of the Cat.

Rating:
Summary: A definite winner!
Review: No doubt about it, the man can simply write! This was a great story, with great characters, and a great plot! Highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: my least favorite of all Anna Pigeon's adventures
Review: This was painful, both my Wife and I are fans of the 'Anna Pigeon' series, so I thought to get the un-abridged CD for a trip across country, what a mistake! My God, this was dull, boring, and silly. How did I stay awake listening to this while driving, and why did my wife not shoot me for buying this, I just don't know?

Rating:
Summary: SPELLBINDING LISTENING
Review: Versatile voice performer Joyce Bean gives eloquent and exciting reading to the latest from New York Times best selling author Nevada Barr.

"Flashback" is the eleventh in Barr's highly popular mystery series featuring Park Ranger Anna Pigeon. With a marriage proposal from Sheriff Paul Davidson still ringing in her ears Anna escapes by signing on as a temporary supervisory ranger on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park. This is the site of Fort Jefferson, a Union prison during the Civil War.

Anna's predecessor fell victim to some mind altering experiences in this area and was quickly dispatched to a safe haven. Anna finds equally challenging threats as her life is repeatedly jeopardized.

Barr skillfully weaves two stories - the contemporary predicament of Anna and that of a supposed Lincoln assassination plot.

Spellbinding listening!

- Gail Cooke