Village of the Ghost Bears: A Nathan Active Mystery - Hardcover

Jones, Stan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569476063 ISBN 13: 9781569476062

Publisher: Soho Crime, 2009

Synopsis

“[Jones]'s created a richly populated universe you'll be sorry to leave”—People Magazine

“You can't fake the stuff Stan Jones pulls off in Village of the Ghost Bears . . . A writer of muscular words and stark images, Jones sets up his scenes like film shots. . . . This kind of writing makes for strong reading, especially with a sturdy murder plot to give it structure.”—New York Times Book Review

“Trooper Nathan Active's beat is a few outposts in a remote, frigid world.  But wherever people live, they bring greed, madness, and death. Active's courageous and stubborn determination to gather the scattered bits of evidence make Stan Jones's Village of the Ghost Bears a fascinating rendition of the human struggle for truth.”—Thomas Perry, author of Runner and Vanishing Act

“His sympathetic portrayal of Alaska's mixed-ethnic traditions is a tribute to both the state and the states of mind it inspires.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Praise for the Nathan Active series:

“No one shows you the ugly side of Alaska the way Stan Jones does.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

“Trooper Active proves such an interesting and likable guide that the selfish reader can’t but hope Nathan won’t get that Anchorage transfer for at least a few more books.”—The Wall Street Journal

“I can’t wait for Nathan Active’s next adventure.”—Chicago Tribune

“Jones captures in precise detail . . . the starkly individual spirit of this village’s collection of characters. . . . His depiction of a freezing world of tarpaper houses and whaling camps is absolutely convincing.”—Houston Chronicle

“First rate.”—Library Journal, starred review

Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active must figure out what connects a dead hunter on a remote Arctic lake with a year-old fatal plane crash in the Brooks Range and a fire at the Chukchi Recreation Center that killed eight people, including the town’s basketball star. The case turns out to involve a lucrative polar bear poaching operation and the intense bond between a brother and sister from the village of Cape Goodwin, famous in the Arctic for twins, polar bears, and schizophrenia. The heart of the matter, he discovers, is a dead woman whose killer remembers her as having a mouth so sweet “it was like kissing a Hershey bar.”

Stan Jones is a native of Alaska. He has worked as an award-winning journalist and a bush pilot. He is the author of three previous mysteries in the acclaimed Nathan Active series.

About this title

About the Author

Stan Jones is a native of Alaska, where he has worked as an award-winning journalist and bush pilot. He is the author of three previous mysteries in the acclaimed Nathan Active series.

Reviews

Adult/High School—This novel follows Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active as he tries to solve two possibly connected occurrences: the discovery of the body of a hunter at a remote lake and a fire at the Chukchi Recreation Center that claims eight lives. Without having read the previous books in the series, it is initially difficult to engage with the characters, but that quickly becomes inconsequential as the main focus of the novel turns to solving the mysteries. Jones provides a unique look at the Alaskan landscape and reveals many of the racial tensions that still exist in this part of the world. Ghost Bears leaves readers looking forward to the next "Nathan Active" installment.—Kelliann Bogan, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Starred Review. Northwest Alaska is the shining star of Jones's fourth Nathan Active mystery (after 2008's Frozen Sun), often viewed from a Super Cub plane flying perilously over wilderness foothills, craggy ridges and autumn tundra. While on a camping trip to a remote lake, Nathan, an Inupiaq (native) Alaska state trooper, and Grace, the woman he loves, come upon a body in a creek, its face eaten by pike. Arson soon follows murder. Back home in the village of Chukchi, the recreation center goes up in a blaze, claiming eight victims, including the town's police chief. Rumors of polar bear poaching complicate both cases. Jones, who's been a bush pilot and an investigative reporter, brings stomach-wrenching verisimilitude to crimes despoiling the land and the people, while he sensitively renders the tender, painful romance between Nathan and Grace. His sympathetic portrayal of Alaska's mixed-ethnic traditions is a tribute to both the state and the states of mind it inspires. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This fourth novel starring Alaska state trooper Nathan Active follows on the heels of its predecessor, Frozen Sun (2008), in which Active rescued a woman whose life had spiraled out of control. Now, as this new novel opens, Nathan and the woman, Grace, are taking the first tentative steps toward a personal relationship. But a trio of cases distracts Active from his blossoming romance: the mysterious death of a hunter, a deadly incident of arson, and a plane crash that happened a year ago but could be relevant to the other cases. Nathan is a likable series lead, capable, depending on the situation, of touching tenderness or unbending strength. Fans of other Alaska-set series—Dana Stabenow’s atmospheric Kate Shugak novels and John Straley’s rather more traditional books featuring private investigator Cecil Younger—will embrace the Active novels but don’t stop there: recommend this one to anyone who enjoys a stylishly written, solidly plotted mystery. --David Pitt

Edition details

• Publisher: Soho Crime
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1569476063
• ISBN 13: 9781569476062
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352