Nevada Barr is an expert at creating a strong sense of place. In A Superior Death readers can almost feel the icy water of lake Superior closing in over their head and experience a sense of panic at diving far beneath the surface of the lake with a precise amount of time to return to the surface.
Barr's Anna Pigeon, a ranger with the U.S. National Park Service, has been reassigned from the Texas desert to remote Isle Royal in Lake Superior, where the waters are deep and mosquitoes in amply supply. Hidden in the frigid waters are the wrecks of several sunken boats, including Kamloops, where the bodies of six crew members have been partially preserved for almost 70 years. Divers discover a 7th body, that of Denny Castle, a newlywed and expert diver, floating inside Kamloops dressed in old fashioned sailor's garb. So the investigation begins. Barr has managed to include possible cannibalism, domestic abuse, pedophilia, a federal agent obsessed with the idea of drug smuggling, grief, betrayal, incest, a missing person, teen angst, assault. and the bends into this action-packed (yet a bit slow-moving) story. Unbelievably, it all fits successfully. Barr, who has worked as a ranger herself, presents her readers with incredible detail, leaving us feeling as if we have just returned from a trip to Isle Royal, and grateful that we have escaped with our lives.
Nevada Barr is not for the reader who wants to breeze through an unrealistic techno-thriller. She is for the reader who wants to immerse themselves in another life and another place, being drawn into the setting so far that sometimes the feeling of being in Isle Royal stays with you long after you've put the book down and gone about other business in your life. This is a book that you can sink into.
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