Product Description

Park ranger Anna Pigeon is enjoying the open spaces of Colorado when she receives an urgent call. A young woman has been injured while exploring a cave in New Mexico's Carlsbad Cavern Park. Before she can be pulled to safety, she sends for her friend Anna. Only one problem: a crushing fear of confined spaces has kept Anna out in the open her whole life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42043 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780425230633
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Amazon.com Review
Feisty, resourceful forest ranger Anna Pigeon faced everything from raging fires to deep-water dives with cool aplomb in her first five adventures. Very early in Blind Descent her courage is put to an even greater test when she learns that a woman seriously injured while exploring a cave next door to New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns is a friend who has requested Pigeon's help in getting her out. "A chilling image filled Anna's mind: herself crouched and whimpering, fear pouring like poison through her limbs, shutting down her brain as the cave closed in around her." Pushing aside her fears, Pigeon takes the plunge, leading readers through a truly harrowing series of tight squeezes. Nevada Barr is so good at involving us in Anna's terror that when she finally resurfaces, we share her "unadulterated joy. Even the dirt smelled alive... When she saw her first stars, she croaked out her delight from tired lungs." Above ground, Anna quickly gets involved in two possibly linked murders and becomes a rifleman's target. As we share the progress of her investigation, a sneaky suspicion starts to grow of possible suspects within the small community of spelunkers and National Park Service bureaucrats. Barr couldn't possibly ask Anna to go back underground again, could she? When it happens, of course, it seems inevitable--and just as frightening as the first time.

From Publishers Weekly
Early in this sixth tale in Barr's evocative and suspenseful series (after 1997's Endangered Species), national park ranger Anna Pigeon is summoned from duty in Colorado to New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns. A woman caver seriously injured while exploring the nearby Lechuguilla cave is a friend who has asked specifically that Anna help in her rescue. Anna has faced everything from forest fires to deep-water dives with equanimity, but claustrophobia has so far kept her above-ground. "A chilling image filled Anna's mind: herself crouched and whimpering, fear pouring like poison through her limbs, shutting down her brain as the cave closed in around her." Fully aware of her vulnerability, Anna nevertheless takes the plunge, leading readers through a truly harrowing series of tight squeezes. Barr is so good at involving us in Anna's terror that, when Anna finally reaches the surface again, we share her "unadulterated joy. Even the dirt smelled alive." Above ground, Anna quickly becomes involved in pursuing possible links between two murders and soon finds herself a rifleman's target. A sneaky suspicion starts to grow as we share the progress of her investigation of possible suspects within the sharply sketched community of cavers and National Park Service bureaucrats. Barr couldn't possibly ask Anna?and us?to go back underground again, could she? Wouldn't that be more than courage and credulity could bear? When it happens, of course, it seems inevitable and thoroughly satisfying?thanks to the writing and plotting talents of a master. Mystery Guild main selection; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-When Anna Pigeon learns that fellow park ranger Frieda Dierkz lies injured within the depths of Lechugilla Cavern, she overcomes her claustrophobia and wills herself into the cave, along with the official rescue team. Working against her anxiety, Anna concentrates on the difficulties of moving the woman through passages and over formations while another fear begins to surface. Frieda is sure that an attempt was made on her life and rigged to look like an accident. Her apprehensions prove correct when she is killed by a fall that almost takes Anna's life as well. Left with just a shred of information, Anna sets out to find the killer. Barr brings the intricate, fascinating, and deadly underground world of spelunking into close and intimate focus using Anna's divergent emotions of awe and near terror as she works her way through the total blackness. Readers are immersed in the setting, and Anna's claustrophobia, tangibly intense at times, keeps the tension of the plot tautly controlled. She pushes herself to the limit, determined to solve the mysteries of death and dirty dealings that appear to center on the importance and fate of Lechugilla Cavern. While about half of the story takes place above ground, the intense moments occur in the deep orifices below. Barr has created a variety of characters in the rescue team, each distinct in personality and style. All of the twists and turns of the cave and the plot finally come together in an action-packed ending.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Deep, Dark, Dangerous
Anna Pigeon, Park Ranger, has been called to New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns. She is not a spelunker, but her injured friend requested that she be on the team to bring them out of the caverns. The rescuers will descend over 800 feet in a short time.

This story is rich in details that take Anna across underground cliff faces like Razor Blade Run, through rivers and into the depths of airless passages, where all she wants to see is the sky. The descent must be done in such a way to protect the natural wonders of non-public caverns. On arrival Anna's friend tells her, "It was not an accident."

One of the strong, highly trained companions had murder in the heart. Anna must discover who and why before the killer can strike and succeed. Motives abound among well defined suspects.

Nevada Barr convincingly shows why rangers are called to locations other than their assigned park. Her descriptions are so rich that she must have been in the caves. She is a park ranger herself, and her view of the political structure is as eye-opening as the mystery itself.

Ms. Barr is a great storyteller. This is one of her very best novels. She has included enough clues to help the "who done its?" solve the mystery with Anna.

the best Nevada Barr book so far!
I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the books in the Anna Pigeon series but "Blind Descent" is the best of the bunch so far. Barr's books are always interesting and well-written but the previous ones sometimes didn't have quite enough clues with the result that the endings came as a bit of a surprise. "Blind Descent" not only has the requisite number of hints, but they are so skillfully interwoven into the story that you will find yourself thinking, "oh of course" at the end. This is a terrific book, the descriptions of the cave are harrowing, the other characters are well-drawn and intriguing and the pace of the book is fast.

Murder in the Dark
Anna Pigeon and I have been caving, and after our adventure in a partially explored annex to Carlsbad Caverns, I don't want to go again any time soon!

As always, Nevada Barr has the ability to take the reader right along on Anna's adventures. An indoor person myself, I was perfectly comfortable with the descriptions of the various and sundry caving gear, body positions necessary to squeeze through outrageously small openings formed of solid rock, and horrendously dangerous slithering over bottomless caverns. Never boring, these descriptions of caving are fascinating, as is the explanation of the otherworldly cave, Lechuguilla Cavern, only discovered in the mid-1980s, and estimated to extend for more than 300 miles.

Anna is a card-carrying claustrophobe, and has absolutely no intention of entering Lechuguilla or any other underground area, even the touristy parts of Carlsbad Caverns. But a caving accident leaves her dear friend Frieda severely injured, perhaps mortally, and Frieda has been calling for Anna. As the rescue team assembles and the painstaking plans are made to plumb the unspeakably dangerous depths of the cave, Anna is asked to join the team in order to calm and care for Frieda during the treacherous rescue operation. Quelling her fears, Anna agrees, and so the adventure begins.

As if the cave were not frightening enough, it soon becomes apparent to Anna, if not to anyone else, that a murderer is among them. If the team and their injured mate does not perish of natural causes in the dangerous cave, will they be murdered instead?

The plot as it unravels is absolutely riveting, and the sense of being beneath the surface of the earth for days at a time is palpable. Barr has done it again; she is a truly fine writer.