The Rope

An Anna Pigeon Mystery, Book 17

By: Nevada Barr

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 12 hrs

Publisher's summary

Anna Pigeon has been a ranger with the National Park Service for many years, but she had a very different life before tragedy sent her west seeking something new. Now Nevada Barr finally tells the previously untold story of Anna’s first foray into the wild, and the case that helped shape her into the ranger she became.

Thirty-five years old, fresh off the bus from New York City, and nursing a shattered heart, Anna Pigeon takes a decidedly unglamorous job as a seasonal employee of the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. On her day off, she goes hiking into the park never to return. Her co-workers think she’s simply moved on - her cabin is cleaned out and her things gone. Anna herself wakes up, trapped at the bottom of a dry natural well, naked, without supplies and no clear memory of how she got into this situation.

As she slowly pieces together her memory, it soon becomes clear that someone has trapped her there, in an inescapable prison, and that no one knows that she is even missing. Plunged into a landscape and a plot she is unfit and untrained to handle, Anna Pigeon must muster the courage, strength, and will to live that she didn’t even know she still possessed in order to survive, outwit, and triumph.

Investigate more mysterious doings with Anna Pigeon.

©2012 Nevada Barr (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

The beginning of the series, but really the last.

If you could sum up The Rope in three words, what would they be?

Entertaining, spellbinding, and finalizing.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. You are always waiting to find out how she is going to get out of each situation.

What does Joyce Bean bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She is very good with her voice interpretation. You can easily identify each of the persons she is portraying.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I liked many moments.

Any additional comments?

I am sorry that Nevada Barr has completed this series.

Ok

Well paced. Kept my interest throughout. Although this one didn’t make me want to visit the park like many of the others did.

Great Story

Nevada Barr is an excellent writer. Anna Pigeon is a very complex interesting character that takes me to national parks and their unique attributes and with an exciting adventure. I have enjoyed everyone of her stories. In "The Rope", I loved hearing about Glenn Canyon with a great twist in Anna's adventure. I can't stop listening.

A great find!

I had somehow missed this book on my initial listen to the series and am so very glad I came upon it. The twists kept me guessing and I enjoyed Anna’s ranger origination story.

Not bad, explains a lot

Its nice to see where Anna started. I am glad that her character in later books has more backbone and seems smarter than she does in this book. I think it would have been better if this had actually been book one and then we could see Anna progress in her career.
It was good and had a good character twist. I would recommend it.

Good Story

I have read almost all of Nevada Barr's books and I appreciate the theme of Anna Pigeon being a federal employee. As a federal employee myself for another land agency, I can understand some of the similarities in the storyies. However, I do sometimes wonder how one character, Anna, can have so many near death experiences.

It was also hard for me to go back into Anna's beginning as a Park Ranger, after I had already read all of her other adventures. I had trouble feeling like the Anna in "The Rope" was the same Anna in the earlier stories.

Not as exciting as other books in this series

This story wasn't as entertaining as other books in this series. It seemed a little more drawn out.

The narrator also isn't as good as the one I've heard in other books in this series. She read the book, but her tone was more severe and seemed old for the type of story.

It was worth the listen, as this series is excellent.

Girls Own Mystery & Adventure in the Canyons

I don't generally go for the standard Crime/Mystery books, often seems like you're reading the same story, just different names and places, but the desert, canyons and lake are centre-stage in this, the landscape and surroundings are a constant main character of the story so that gets 10 points from me for a start. I'll try almost anything with that kind of setting and this book delivers totally in that department.
Also a great, well paced adventure mystery with a feminist slant that gives it a bit more interest.
Very entertaining, easy listening - not a dull moment as the action moves from the park housing village, to the sink-hole prison, across the desert, down into to the cold water of the canyon, up the rock climbing faces and back, escaping death by thirst, hypothermia and cliff-falls at every turn.
If you like a fast moving adventure story set in the extreme outdoors, you'll love this.
Only the third Anna Pigeon I've read, but I plan to start working my way through the series.
And narration is good too.

Anna as the victim, told from the victim POV

If you’ve listened to books by Nevada Barr before, how does this one compare?

Not my favorite. It spend much of the book on Anna's internal thoughts and on bullying. It needs more story. Another reviews states that she gets out of several impossible situations which is true but I found that part interesting. She dislocations her shoulder and is able to perform Fantastic feats. I have dislocated my shoulder before and I had trouble putting on my jacket.

Have you listened to any of Joyce Bean’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The is the first book I have heard her but she does an excellent job.

Back to the beginning

If you could sum up The Rope in three words, what would they be?

Twists and turns

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Very exciting with multiple plot twists. She keeps you wondering just who the villain is and then, just when you know, she throws in another twist.

What about Joyce Bean???s performance did you like?

Joyce sounded like the Anna Pigeon I always imagined and her character voices are really on the spot. I was never lost wondering who was talking.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Buddy appeared on the scene, I felt the joy.