Average Book
This book should have been edited better. It was too slow. It's about 100 pages too long. As all of Nevada Barr's books, there's entirely too much internal dialogue. If some of that was cut back, it would pick up the pace. I found myself skipping a lot of the pages.

BIG DISAPOINTMENT
I am a big Nevada Barr fan and have read all her books. Winter Study is just too unbelievable. I found it raw and gritty. No one could live through all that. The plot was hard to follow and characters were hard to keep straight. Don't spend you hard earned money on this one!

Following Anna
I started following Anna Pigeon in Track of the Cat, a book I checked out of the library because it had the word "track" in it back when I was just learning to track. Since then I have read every book I could find by Nevada Barr, even those without the famous Anna Pigeon in them because when it is all said and done, this writer will be a classic. The Anna Pigeon in this latest book has lived through so many harrowing mysteries that she has gained skills and savvy that make her almost a different character. Who says a female protagonist needs to be a ditz? Not that Anna doesn't get hurt in this one, but she gives as good as she got. This is a read where you don't find yourself frustrated with the main character being stupid. Instead you are right with her unraveling the mystery as she does, only being spared the physical pains.

Swiss Cheese plot
Where to start with this book? My first gripe - not a new one - is an irritating grammar issue. I almost quite reading after five words, because there it was: "Ann'd." For heavens sake, Nevada, cut that out. It's distracting, poor grammar and diction, found in speech but not in writing.

And that plot. Good grief. Was there an editor anywhere in the contiguous 48 states who could have helped? Characters wandered in an out and it was honestly hard to keep track of them, because some were fleshed out so little. And what a pack of weirdos. I think the wolves showed great restraint in not eating them all. Immediately.

Why oh why is Homeland Security always the bad guy? And could it have been more obvious? And if Bob What's his name is supposed to be Katherine's grad prof mentor, and he has so little knowledge of wolves, when she seems to be the expert, how does that work in real-life academia? Hint, it doesn't.

Why on earth does Anna Pigeon seem to hate men so much? It's almost embarrassing. Poor Paul.

And that climax. It went on so long I got bored. End a book, lady. Leave us wanting more, not less.

I could go on. This is enough. Never again.

Not Barr's Best
I am an avid Nevada Barr fan and have read all her published books to date. After waiting patiently for its release, "Winter Study" is a real disappointment, especially when compared to "Flashback", "Deep South", or her particularly well written "Bittersweet".

I had the sense of being "trapped" by limitations of the subject matter and setting: a study of wolves on an isolated and ice-bound island with a small handful of suspicious characters sharing a bunkhouse. Anna's formula for getting into serious trouble twice during the story -- once in the middle and once at the end -- has become predictable. Missing are the insightful and amusing telephone conversations with her sister Mollie, which usually help to give the characters and story depth and allow us to relate better to them. The wolves themselves could have offered more interest. The premise is just too far-fetched and many of the predicaments, including the ending, are just too drawn out. I found it very difficult to connect to the story or the characters.

If the release of this book was delayed because of the effects of Katrina, then I suggest that New Orleans and the hurricane might have provided far better material for a more interesting and engaging story.