Rating: 
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I never thought there'd come a time when I'd be embarrassed to recommend a Nevada Barr mystery novel. But, the time is now. This story was unimaginative and strained, the description repetetive and overwrought (if I had to read about the ivy tearing down the works of man one more time . . .), and her "patriotic" descriptions of the Statue of Liberty and of Ellis Island were nauseating. And there was none of the geeky nature information that I usually enjoy in her writing. I've turned on a number of fellow mystery buffs to the Anna Pigeon stories. I may have to suggest that folks read no farther than Blind Descent if her next novel is as poor as Liberty Falling.
Rating: 
Summary: Waiting for Anna's return to the West
Review: I really enjoyed Nevada Barr's Ill Wind, Track of the Cat and Firestorm and recommend them highly for mystery readers. I loved the isolated park experience that created these books setting. In "Liberty Falling" the city setting robs me of the things that I want to love about the Anna Pigeon mysteries. The action heated up toward the end of the book, but I had to fight to stay with it. I am waiting for Anna to return to the Southwest or Yosemite or Glacier National Park. This is one of the features that makes me love these books.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing read.
Review: I really enjoyed the first several books in this series, but I find this one too bound up in the relationships between Anna, her sister Molly, and Frederick, the erstwhile FBI agent who has had relationships with both women. The story, overplotted with material pertaining to Anna's personal life, moves so slowly as to be nearly stalled for the first half of the book. I'm afraid this series is spiraling into mediocrity. That's too bad, as the first several books were entertaining reads. This one, however, wasn't.
Rating: 
Summary: I liked the book, but please return Anna to the wilderness!
Review: I thought it was an interesting turn in the Anna Pigeon series for the story to take place in New York City, since all the other stories took place in more scenic, picturesque places like Mesa Verde and Isle Royale. Nevada Barr delivers a very puzzling murder mystery that will leave you guessing up to the very end. Not as good as Blind Descent, but a good book nontheless. I have but two requests for the next installment: 1. True to the series, Anna gets beat up pretty bad in this book; just once I'd like to see her deliver the whooping to the bad guy! 2. PLEASE RETURN ANNA TO THE WILDERNESS! How about a murder mystery at Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, or the Great Sand Dunes?
Rating:
Summary: Major Disappointment
Review: I've been a long time fan of Nevada Barr's writing, especially the Anna Pigeon series. However, with this last novel, I've come to the sad conclusion that the series is running out of steam. Anna seems tired. Much of this latest novel is descriptive material rather than action. I learned more about Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty than I ever wanted to know, and I'm one of those immigrants that passed through Ellis! I do not recommend this book. To those who are first time readers of the series, I would urge you to read the first several books - those are outstanding! Also, a question aimed at those who are Anna Pigeon fans: what happened to the characters Christina Walters and her daughter, Alison? They were favorites of mine, but after the first couple of novels, they somehow disappeared. What happened to them?
Rating: 
Summary: Better than your standard beach novel/mystery
Review: In a desperate last ditch effort to buy books before boarding the plane for another year in Amman, I picked up Liberty Falling. It seemed like a beach novel and next to Juneteenth and Interpreter of Maladies, it looked out of place in my basket. Nevada Barr is a decent story-teller though and this was not a bad beach mystery after all! Set in Manhattan and on Liberty and Ellis Islands, our protagonist, Anna Pigeon is a Park Service employee from out west who is in New York to watch over the recovery of her sister, Molly. Easy to read, a fast-paced, no-brainer sort of book, Liberty Falling surrounds the environs of a highly visible national park and the scary realities of domestic (white trash) terrorism. The story really begins when, in Anna's presence, a young teen-aged girl falls (or is pushed?) from the top of the Statue of Liberty. The mystery was well-woven and I actually found Barr's descriptions of the islands off Manhattan rather fascinating. In the Introduction she gives us the opportunity to learn more about and support the renovations and restorations on both Liberty and Ellis Islands, a worth cause for our Nation's heritage.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting and spooky!
Review: In a fascinatingly different locale, Anna Pigeon is refreshingly still... herself... as she creeps through eerie crumbling ruins in the middle of the night in pursuit of mysterious goings-on on Ellis Island and at the Statue of Liberty. In Anna's dealings with her sister and "Fred the Fed" Barr reveals new depths in Anna's character. And as always, I found myself madly turning pages right up to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Anna and New York Just Don't Mix
Review: Intrepid park ranger Anna Pigeon is out of her milieu in this book, and the result is less than stellar. Anna's beloved sister Molly has fallen dangerously ill, and Anna has rushed to her side. Long and boring stints in the ICU (for both Anna and the reader) are interspersed with acute anxiety attacks, and a pressing need for space. Liberty Island, which is actually one of three islands, is--surprise--a national park, and Anna bunks with a ranger friend rather than stay at Molly's tony apartment in Manhattan. Of course, Anna being Anna, she stumbles onto some nefarious doings, not only in Lady Liberty herself, but in the decayed buildings of Ellis Island. Her snooping is not taken well by the resident staff--to the point where her life may be in danger. I don't know why I found the detailed descriptions of the inner workings of the Statue of Liberty, and the endless visits to the decaying buildings of Ellis Island, so boring. Linda Fairstein described much the same thing in one of her books, and it slowed her plot considerably, in my opinion. Perhaps it was this sense of deja vu that annoyed me so much in "Liberty Falling."
At any rate, I found the going very slow, to the point where I kept forgetting which character was which. Added to the slow pace of the mystery is the intensely annoying courtship of Anna's sister by geeky G-man Frederick Stanton, who has become increasingly hard to take in each successive book. Why the fabulous Molly would respond to Stanton, even in her half-dead state, is beyond me. Anna has some problems with it as well, but for different reasons, as loyal readers of this series know. A half-baked "romance" between Anna and Molly's doctor adds nothing to the plot for most of the book, except for the chance to "view" Anna in a sexy dress and high heels (a first). The mystery does come, at last, to a satisfying conclusion, but not soon enough. For devotees of the Anna Pigeon series, this book provides a necessary link in the ongoing story of Anna's life. For casual readers, this is one to skip. It falls far short of the previous six books in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Barr needs a rest and Anna Pidgeon needs character depth.
Review: It's very difficult to maintain a single protagonist-driven mystery series. And Nevada Barr's "Liberty Falling" shows us just that. Barr gives her usual fantastic "like-you-were-there" background/color. But there is only so much you can say about the site. After all, it is an island and while detail is what Barr's best at,the book quickly gets boring when she can't move her characters very far. As for Anna, she's not moved very far since the death of her husband. Even psychiatrist sister Molly now has a boyfriend. Anna's issues remain the same and they too have become dull. The alcoholic thing, the "no man is an island except Anna" thing, the no-friends thing, the death of her husband thing, no real color outside that of the book's setting. And while I was intrigued with life on Ellis, the previous book, in which Anna is forced into caving, is by far Barr's best to date.
Rating:
Summary: NOT UP TO STANDARD
Review: Just finished Liberty Falling. It was not the usual quality I expect of Nevada Barr. I grant that is a high expectation, but that is why I read her books. This story struck me as contrived. Why is she in New York? Sister is very ill, but she doesn't spend much of the book dealing with Sister or illness. Frederick the Fed does that. He kind of drifts in and out of the story; definitely there, but not really contributing to it. As a Nevada Barr book, this has to be her poorest effort. A good read, but not what I have come to expect. I hope Anna gets back out to wide open places where she can be herself. New York apparantly was not the place for her.
|
