An eerie, windswept island off the coast of Maine becomes the site of a double murder and a disappearance in Hatchet Island, the next thriller in Paul Doiron’s bestselling Mike Bowditch series.

A call for help from a former colleague leads Maine game warden investigator Mike Bowditch and his girlfriend Stacey Stevens on a sea kayaking trip to a research station far off the coast. Stacey spent summers interning on the island, a sanctuary for endangered seabirds, and they are shocked by what they hear when they come ashore. The biologists are being threatened by local fishermen and stalked by a mysterious boatman who seems intent on trespassing on the refuge. Even worse, their leader, whose mind is slowly unraveling after the unexplained suicide of a young intern, has now gone missing.

Camped on a nearby islet for the night, Mike and Stacey waken to the sound of a gunshot. When they return to the refuge at dawn, their darkest fears are confirmed: two of the three researchers have been brutally murdered and the third has disappeared, along with the island skiff. Mike’s quest to find the missing man reveals new suspects including a Marine Patrol officer with a history of violence and the sanctuary’s enigmatic founder, who conveniently reappears after the killings. The search expands to a nearby island owned by a world-renowned photographer with a scandalous reputation. The artist and his equally brilliant wife wield a powerful hold over the inhabitants of their private kingdom, and Mike increasingly comes to believe that someone in the village knows more about the killings than they dare admit.

With no one to trust and miles from shore, Mike Bowditch must stop a ruthless murderer determined to make sure a terrifying secret never sees the light of day.

Review:

Ominous, intricate, and creepy!

Hatchet Island is an engrossing, menacing thriller that takes you back into the life of Maine game warden Mike Bowditch as he and his significant other, biologist Stacey Stevens find themselves heading to the islands off the coast of Maine and embroiled in a tragic, disturbing case involving some disgruntled fishermen, a famous photographer with a dark side, and a double homicide when Stacey’s old roommate working on the Maine Seabird Initiative asks for her help locating her missing boss. 

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are resourceful, clever, and persistent. And the plot is a sinister tale of mayhem, murder, coercion, deception, tragedy, suspicious personalities, abusive behaviour, suicide, and loss.

Overall, Hatchet Island is another atmospheric, pacey, thrilling tale by Doiron that, with its well-drawn characterization and entertaining storyline, is sure to be a big hit with longtime fan of the Mike Bowditch series.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

Maine game warden Mike Bowditch finds himself in a life-or-death chase in this new thriller in the bestselling mystery series by Edgar Award nominee Paul Doiron.

Maine game warden Mike Bowditch is fighting for his life. Ambushed on a darkened winter road, he plunges his Jeep into a frozen river and must escape drowning beneath the ice. Surviving the crash is only the first challenge he faces in a nightlong battle to stay alive and one step ahead of his unknown, heavily armed pursuers. To outwit them and return to his friends and family, none of whom knows where he is, Bowditch must dissect the hours leading up to the ambush and solve two riddles: who are these people who desperately want him dead and what has he done to incur their wrath?

Review:

Shady, intense, and incredibly atmospheric!

In this adrenaline-pumping, twelfth instalment in the Mike Bowditch series, Dead by Dawn, Doiron has written a fast-paced, sinister thriller that finds Maine game warden Mike Bowditch in a race against time to save his life from the elements of a harsh, New England winter and a team of criminals determined to keep their illegal enterprises hidden when his reopening of a suspicious drowning case involving a local professor triggers a chain of events that end with himself and his unusual, wolf sidekick, Shadow plunging into the icy depths of the Androscoggin River.

The prose is crisp and rich. The characters are intelligent, relentless, and resourceful. And the plot, using a back-and-forth, past/present style, is a menacing tale of mischief, mayhem, corruption, manipulation, impulsivity, depravity, heinous violence, and murder.

Overall, Dead By Dawn is a gritty, engrossing, action-packed thrill ride by Dorion that is highly entertaining, a little disturbing, and the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys a really good survivalist tale.

This novel is available on June 29, 2021.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.