Destroyer Angel by Nevada Barr

Destroyer Angel by Nevada Barr

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In her 17th Anna Pigeon novel, Barr has Anna out for a camping trip in upper Minnesota. She is with her friend Heath and daughter Elizabeth, another mother and daughter combination, Leah and Katie, and a dog, Wily.

While Anna takes an idyllic canoe float relaxing and gazing at the stars, the camp is disrupted by the appearance of four men intent on kidnapping Leah and Katie. One man, the dude, is the man in charge, and the other three are misfits completely out of their element. The four have no chemistry and were apparently thrown together to complete this one evil task. Other than Leah and Katie, the other campers are excess baggage, which doesn't bode well for their survival. The one saving grace is the kidnappers believe Heath's story that Anna had stayed home. They believe they're only dealing with the four they find in camp.

Why do the kidnapping out in the wilderness, when they knew there would be other witnesses to deal with? Good question, and one Barr never provides an answer for. That particular plot hole drags on an otherwise thrilling story.

Anna overhears the thugs' plans and must decide on whether to take the canoe and go for help, or go commando, using her woodland survival skills to try and rescue the captives. She determines that by the time she could return with help, it might be too late to help anyone.

All of the characters are damaged in some way, the kidnappers and captives, and Barr uses both the physical and psychological afflictions the respective characters possess to move the story forward. Heath is a paraplegic; Leah is an unfeeling automaton with engineering expertise, but no parental skills. One of the thugs is a pedophile and another, a displaced gangbanger. The combination makes for great drama and occasional humor.

Setting the kidnapping in the wilderness certainly set the story up for Anna to display her skills and her grit, and Barr put that to its best use throughout. She also showed that good people with damaged souls can find redemption when placed in impossible situations.





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