A Daphne du Maurier Award Winner. In the Barrens, a vast wilderness in northern Canada bordering the Arctic Circle, night consumes every hour of the winter. Humans are scarce; ferocious predators roam freely. Locals say spirits do, too.Rookie cop Tana Larsson doesn’t mind the dark and quiet. Five months pregnant and hoping to escape the mistakes of her past, she takes a post in Twin Rivers, … post in Twin Rivers, population 320. Maybe here she can find peace and community for her child.
But with her superior out of commission, Tana becomes the sole police officer in 17,500 square miles. One bitter night, she gets a call about the fatal wolf mauling of two students, and the only way to reach the remote scene is to enlist the help of the arrogant, irritatingly handsome Cameron “Crash” O’Halloran, a local bush pilot with a shady reputation for smuggling and a past cloaked in shadow.
When the macabre scene they uncover suggests violence much more sinister than animal, Tana must trust Crash if she wants to protect the town—and herself—from the evil that lurks in the frozen dark.
more
Good writing. The author’s words will place you in the setting.
Loved this book as well! She is truly talented and I stay up way past my bedtime reading her books. Intriguing storyline and I found myself a bit scared….which I loved!
This book grabbed me from the first page. Loreth Anne White doesn’t hold back or mince words as she creates a terrifying world where a serial killer stalks victims under cover of ice and snow. Some reviews describe this book as dark, brutal, and gruesome and I would agree, but it is also about trust, faith in yourself, and second chances. The plot is face-paced and violent, but the surprising courage and upstanding moral fiber of Tana Larsson, a rookie cop left on her own in the outer reaches of civilization, delivers the message that a willingness to ask for help and belief in yourself can overcome horrific obstacles. I look forward to my next book by this author.
Wow!!! What a crazy, creepy story. If I could have given it 4.5stars, I would have. In the last year, I’ve become a little infatuated with Alaskan stories. While this doesn’t take place in Alaska (Canadian Northern Territory), it does take place in an area with frozen tundras, limited daylight, crazy snowstorms and dangerous wildlife.
The way the author tells the story reminds me of when I was a kid and the way scary stories would be told around a campfire. White is a good storyteller and had me on edge so many times. The plot was scary and creepy and had a gothic feel to it. It also got a little gory in a few parts so not the kind of story for the really squeamish.
Without giving away any spoilers, the really chilling and frightening thing about this story is that there are really evil people out there like this villain. Psycho’s wandering around amongst us, pretending they’re normal while they hunt their prey.
3.5 stars. While I found In the Barren Ground interesting, I didn’t like it as good as I did The Dark Lure and it’s sequel. I don’t think I connected as well with the characters or that there was much of a connection between any of them. The suspense and intrigue were still there along with legends and traditions exclusive to the area in which it’s based. All that combined makes for a good story. Not one that I’ll re-read but definitely one that I’m glad I did read. It does contain quite descriptive “gore”, so be prepared.
A delightful suspense-filled thriller set in Alaska. Kept me on my seat. Descriptive, well-developed characters. Totally worth my time and money. I will continue to read her works.
I didn’t see the ending coming until the last couple of chapters, then I had an idea that turned out to be right. That’s what I like about thrillers, trying to figure out “who done it” before the author tells me.
This is my favorite type of thriller, where the environment becomes a character. Fans of Fortitude will love this one.
I liked the story and the characters. I thought it was well written and moved at a good pace. Constable Tana Larsson of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a young police officer who is posted to an isolated town in northern Canada. She spent most of her childhood in a broken and dysfunctional home and her adult life, both emotionally and career wise, are still in upheaval. She looked at this posting to a remote town as a chance to reestablish herself and finally get her life in order. Shortly after arriving, her commanding officer suffers an accident leaving Constable Larsson on her own as the sole police officer for thousands of miles around. A couple of young scientists collecting animal data in the area are killed by what appears to be animal predation. Constable Larsson begins what should be a routine official investigation of the deaths likely caused by wolf or bear attack. The deeper into the investigation she gets the more things don’t add up and it becomes apparent that that there is more to these deaths than meets the eyes. She enlist the help of a local bush pilot with a mysterious past and slowly gains the trust of the community to solve the mystery. There were a couple weak spots in the story such as trying to make the main character a little too tough at the beginning and information dumps regarding the main male character’s background and what happened following the last climactic conflict. Weaving this information into the story would have been better than just telling the reader what happened. There were also a few gruesomely detailed scenes that might put some readers off, but thankfully the author did not dwell on them. Overall I thought this was a good read with a story that held my interest.
4 1/2 stars. White is an amazing storyteller. This is my 7th book by her in the past few months and I loved everyone of them. Her writing is so amazing.
In this novel, we meet Tana Larsson who is looking for a fresh start in the Northern Territories of Canada, though she’s still carrying some serious baggage. She meets Cameron “Crash” O’Halloran, a local pilot, who has some weighty baggage of his own, and together they end up investigating first two, then a series, of mysterious and gruesome deaths in an area that barely has people, let alone killers. It’s first thought the kills were done by predators, like wolves or bears, but how thrilling a book would that make?
While I didn’t find the “should she or shouldn’t she?” romance entirely necessary, I did think it was a nice subplot to cushion the “What is the evil killing all these people?” investigation that dominated the book.
I listened to the Audible version, and while the narrator was decent, she made some mispronunciations that really detracted from her overall performance. At first, I thought maybe she was getting in the grrove of an odd Arctic Circle dialect, but after a few Google searches, it’s obvious she just didn’t know how to say certain words. For example, hearth should not rhyme with “mirth”, belay doesn’t sound like relay (as in race), and eschew doesn’t have a hard “ch” like chat.
The complexity of which this author writes always astounds me. When you start the book its like a jumbled up jig saw puzzle. It doesnt make a lot of sense. Her characters are this way too. In the beginning when being introduced to a wealth of characters you tend to form an opinion on them as the heroine does. As the story goes along and puzzle pieces snap into place you see your first impressions were wrong. This was the case with the hero. It was also the case with the first deaths Rookie cop Tana Larsson had to investigate. Tana’s first call is what looks like an animal mauling of two students who were up in the snowy mountains of The Barrens. From that point until the conclusion of the book – you were shocked at the things Tana uncovers and what is truly going on.
The story here is stuff of nightmares. The dark tales told by the Aboriginal Canadians come to life. This was a fascinating read that stayed in my head even in sleep giving me weird dreams. I dont dream often but something about this story got into my subconscious and wrecked havoc.