Book cover excerpt:
Sue Henry's Jessie Arnold mysteries have been praised for both their beauty ("twice as vivid as Michener's natural Alaska"--The Washington Post Book World) and their suspense ("The twists and turns keep you turning the pages"---The Denver Post). Now the champion sled-dog racer returns to the trail after a long hiatus...only to stumble upon something unexpected across her path.
After months of recuperatino from knee surgery, Jessie Arnold is eager to begin training for this year's Iditarod. With the loving care of Alaska state trooper Alex Jensen, her convalescence wasn't as painful as it could have been, but she and her dogs have a lot of work to do if they're going to qualify for the race.
Jessie's first practice run goes smoothly until her sled hits a bump along the trail---a snow- and ice-shrouded dead body bearing a gunshot wound. The victim is Donny Thompson, the youngest son of a mechanic from the nearby town of Palmer. What Thompson was doing on a musher's trail without any evidence of a sled and dogs is anyone's guess. But what worries Alex and Jessie more is how close to their home the man was killed...
quotes::::
p.94 Before he could agree, several dogs stood up, moved nervously and began to howl a protest as, a second or two later, a slight tremor briefly shook the ground under their feet, then stopped.
"Aftershock," Jessie said, as her dogs quieted. "The dogs feel it, or hear it, before we do."
"They do?"
"Yes. Most animals are more sensitive to it. Have you ever noticed how still it gets just before a quake?"
Billy shook his head. "Uh-uh."
"It's like all the birds are gone. You can always hear them in the trees here, like background noise you don't notice much. But you really notice when they stop chirping and aren't flying around. The ravens disappear just before a quake, like they know it's coming somehow."
"But the dongs didn't get quiet. They were howling and whining, and jumping around on their tethers like they wanted t run. Some of them crawled into their boxes and lay down. Then the ground started to shake."
"Yeah, it's odd. I guess different animals have different reactions. Some cats can disappear for days. I read somewhere that a woman's cat carried off and hid all her kittens---didn't bring them back home for several days. Fish have been seen swimming closer to the surface of the water. Bees may all fly out of their hive just before an earthquake and not come back for ten or fifteen minutes. Snakes have been known to crawl out of their hibernation dens and, being cold-blooded, freeze to death outside after a winter quake. Cows can be kncked off their feet and horses panic."
"Wow! Where did you learn all that?"
"Where do we learn a lot of things these days? Go online and Google 'predicting quakes from unusual animal behavior.' There's an interesting article by a guy named Brown."
"Cool. I'll do that. Now, what have you go for me to do?"
p. 139
"...Never did like funerals. Guess the next one I go to will be my own---when I won't give a damn." Hardy chuckled to himself, reminding Alex of something his father had once said about whistling past a graveyard.
p.172
...The dogs ate hungrily and were not bothered by the chill in the air, for they were bred with thick coats to withstand cold weather. To them it was normal for at least half the year.
Too bad mushers aren't covered with such protective coats, Jessie thought and grinned at the idea, picturing some she knew who wore heavy beards all winter for just such protection from the icy winds of the far north when they were out on the trail.
p.175 (I include this quote only because it seems to be a preview of the next Maxie book, in a way....
"Well," Maxie confessed, "I did mean to go down the road, maybe see a bit of Texas or even Mexico. But somehow I just couldn't get my self geared up for it this year. Would you believe me if I told you I've a hankering for snow and northern lights?"
"You're asking the pot to call the kettle black with that one," Jessie told her. " You've no idea how much I've been yearning for snow, now that my knee is well enough to get back on a sled."
p. 192
"It's true, " he said, chuckling. "It's all true. And it's not just here in the valley. I think the whole state's full of people with less than six degrees of separation. All you have to do is ask the right question about someone and the person you're asking either knows them or they know someone who does."
p. 209
What kind of person was this Robin Fenneli anyway? Her name, Robin, had caused him to assume a cheerful, attractive idea of her that was now in contradiction to what her living space had told him.
p. 210
Or did it simply mirror a woman whose character ws distinctly at odds with the name she had been given?
p. 213
"How nice it is," Maxie said, "to be able to walk from your house right into the trees."
p. 213
Jessie recalled a story for Maxie about a cross-country skier who had his fur hat snatched from his head one evening by a hunting owl that left talon wounds on his head and flew away with his headgear, thinking it had captured dinner.
p. 234-235
..."It reminds me of that old thing about trying to fit rocks, pebbles, and sand into the same jar. If you don't do it in the correct order they won't all fit in. But if you put the rocks---the essential stuff---in first, then the pebbles---important and related stuff, but not so essential---in second, they'll all fall down among the rocks. Then, last, you pour in the sand---the related but not really important stuff. And it will all fit nicely into the jar."
p. 256 ( I include this quote just cause I need to look up what a certain phrase/word means)
"Will be in jail from now till next Tishah-b'Ab, if I have anything to say about it."
Really liked this book as well. And Maxie shows up again in this book, providing insight and support for Alex and Jessie. This one was not as "gripping" as others, but still provided a good read.
No comments:
Post a Comment