National Park Service Ranger Anna Pigeon’s high school-aged goddaughter, Elizabeth, is being cyber stalked by an unknown person in her hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Elizabeth’s mother, Heath Jarrod, is Anna’s best friend, and as the threats hit dangerously close to home, Anna and Heath realize they may need to leave Boulder to keep Elizabeth safe. Since Anna is filling in for the park manager at Acadia National Park in Maine, and knows of a friend with a secluded home off the grid on Boar Island just offshore from the park, Elizabeth, Heath and her Aunt Gwen decide to seek safe haven for the summer.

Soon after they arrive, they discover that the stalker has traced them across the country to their approximate location. They wonder if even the remote lighthouse home is safe, so they remain island-bound with only cautious visits to the nearby community. Heath, who has been left a paraplegic after a climbing accident, is equipped with a motorized wheelchair and an experimental exoskeleton that allows her to walk upright. She finds that she is amazingly nimble, even on the craggy landscape and multi-storied house that the three women are occupying. 

"Barr manages to avoid one of the common pitfalls of many series novelists --- that of tediously recounting the backstory of the preceding novel.... Any newcomer will no doubt want to go back to Anna’s beginnings and follow her illustrious career as a park ranger."

When Anna arrives at the park, she thinks she recognizes a woman with whom she once worked. Anna’s park responsibilities leave her little time to spend with Heath, Elizabeth and Gwen, so it’s a few days before she finds out the troubling news about the stalker. Meanwhile, a puzzling situation appears to be developing surrounding the lady she spotted. Anna soon realizes that this woman is mentally unbalanced and seems to have a very personal score to settle with her. She finds her hands full, between trying to help Elizabeth and Heath and investigating the troubled ranger.

The rugged North Atlantic locale adds a splendid and original backdrop with plenty of opportunity for dangerous misadventures as Anna confronts not only Nature’s often adverse conditions, but perhaps one of her most evil adversaries yet. Located on the wild North Atlantic coast, Acadia National Park is the furthest northeastern national park in America. An added plus is that 2016 is the National Park Service’s 100th birthday. BOAR ISLAND has nothing to do with that event, but it’s noteworthy because each of Barr’s 19 Anna Pigeon adventures takes place in a different national park from all corners of the United States, a major attraction to her books.

I first picked up HUNTING SEASON almost 20 years ago, and was so captivated that I immediately checked out Barr’s bibliography, starting at the beginning with TRACK OF THE CAT. Barr is an interesting individual; she has a background on the stage and in writing, and is a former National Park Service ranger herself, which lends realism to her novels. It has been my pleasure to know and work with a few local, state and national park rangers over the years here in Arizona, and I’ve recruited my fair share of them as new fans for Barr’s books. They find them authentic, exciting and highly entertaining. The lives of park rangers are not filled with nearly as many chills and thrills as Anna’s, they report, but they have experienced their fair share of exciting and unexpected wildlife encounters, lost tourists who wander off the beaten path, hiking and skiing accidents, and even a rare brush with criminal activities.

Barr manages to avoid one of the common pitfalls of many series novelists --- that of tediously recounting the backstory of the preceding novel. She skillfully blends just enough essential information when needed without expounding endlessly, boring the reader for pages to catch up. Any newcomer will no doubt want to go back to Anna’s beginnings and follow her illustrious career as a park ranger.

Audiobook available, read by Barbara Rosenblat