Continuing on from book 17 in this series, Old Sam dies aged 87 and leaves the majority of his estate to his niece Kate Shugak. However, Old Sam also leaves a mystery for Kate to solve. Follow Kate as she tries to solve the secrets Old Sam left behind.
I enjoyed reading Though Not Dead and felt quite at home with Alaska and Dana’s writing style. I liked how this novel had a strong sense of belonging and roots. Much fun is made of tourists and their off-the-rack clothing from REI and the differences between Outside and the Park. Yet more local North American words were used for example - coldcocked - which made me feel like a welcome tourist.
Mutt, the half husky, half wolf dog belonging to Kate had a great role to play in the story. I liked how the relationship between a dog and their owner was fully explored - the bond that is shared is beautiful and very strong. Also, all dogs can make you smile, for example when
Dana writes…
“No,” she said, so violently that Mutt, snoozing peacefully before the fire, was startled awake. When no danger appeared imminent she gave Kate an indignant look and went through her pawing, circling, and flopping ritual, this time punctuating her displeasure with a loud and aromatic fart.
...I enjoyed how the mystery was skilfully solved by Kate who was acutely aware of Occam’s razor. However, I was distracted by the story rolling back and forth between Old Sam’s life before Kate was born and the present day. Very often throughout this novel the reader knew more about what had happened than Kate, the lead character did. Still, I think Though Not Dead is a GOOD 4 star read and I look forward to the next book in this series.
Though Not Dead was written in 2011 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.
No comments:
Post a Comment