The Precipice

A Novel

By: Paul Doiron

Narrated by: Henry Levya

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

When two young female hikers disappear in the Hundred Mile Wilderness - the most remote stretch along the entire 2,000 mile Appalachian Trail - Maine game warden Mike Bowditch joins the search to find them. The police interview everyone they can find who came in contact with the college students and learn that the women were lovers who had been keeping their relationship secret from their Evangelical parents in Georgia. When two corpses are discovered - the bones picked clean by coyotes - rumors spread that the women were stalked and killed by the increasingly aggressive canines. Faced with a statewide panic, Maine's governor places an emergency bounty on every dead coyote, and wildlife officials are tasked with collecting the carcasses. Despite some misgivings, Bowditch does his grisly job. But he finds his complacency challenged by his new girlfriend, the brilliant but volatile biologist Stacey Stevens, who insists coyotes merely scavenged the bodies after the women were murdered. When Stacey herself disappears on the outskirts of the Hundred Mile Wilderness, Bowditch realizes that locating her means he must also discover the truth behind what happened to the two hikers. Were the young women really killed by coyotes, or, as Stacey insisted, were they murdered by the most dangerous animal in the North Woods?

©2015 Paul Doiron (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Laborious

I have enjoyed several of the Doiron novels and the adventures of the Maine game warden. I found several books in the excellent category, one in the "don't bother" category, and this one is in the "if you have nothing better to do." The story is slow, slow, slow and told in ponderous narrative. The plot is, well, thin. Charlie is the best character and Mike spins around a love interest who is not the least interesting. Much of the time the tale is a synopsis of the Appalachian Trail history straight out of Google.The story lacks tension and crescendo, a startling denouement, intriguing characters and anything or anyone that is riveting except a raid on rednecks in the backwoods. Now that was an interesting moment--the only one. The novel lacks a mysterious tone and is obsessed with the female character who is gifted with obnoxious behaviors, know-it-all actions, and truly imprudent, dangerous decision-making. Stupid, willful women are not interesting. I only stuck with this book because I "hoped" it would turn a corner and get better. A game of trivial pursuit is more interesting than this book.

Suspenseful and Riveting

As usual Paul kept us on the edge of the mystery. Just as you thought you knew.... a new twist! Vivid descriptions help paint the picture of the scenes and bring each place and character into clear view in my mind's eye!

Nice enough story, but a little disorganized.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes, but it's difficult to describe. The premise is that this warden solves the mystery...sort of. But the whole thing seems to jump around, and while things get resolved, and it qualifies as a who done it, simply because you are given so little info you really can't guess, it's one of those rambling accounts where the characters seem to stumble onto info while doing spontaneous and often foolish things. Not that it's uninteresting exactly or difficult to listen to it's just a little hard to realize anything has actually happened. It almost seems anecdotal or a news recap, you see what happened, you see the result or solution but if you had to retell it to someone it would be hard to put in order or pick out the high points in this story.

Would you recommend The Precipice to your friends? Why or why not?

I don't think so. It's okay, it is sort of entertaining if you have some hiking interest or familiarity with the AT, but it seems to just wander along sort of rambling. Not boring exactly but like a hike or car trip, there are long sections where nothing significant is going on so while not boring at the time, these sections are forgettable after the trip.

What three words best describe Henry Levya’s voice?

calm, unexcited, steadily paced

Could you see The Precipice being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Can't see it as written. The idea might be used but the story would have to be streamlined, and no way it could sustain a series.

Enjoyable!

one of my favorites, plenty of twists and turns to keep your interest. highly recommend