Hiding in the Wilderness of Yosemite
I’ve been a fan of the Jack Prester mysteries since they were originally published in the 1990’s. When author Sandy Dengler released them digitally ten or so years ago and put out a fifth book, I reread them. In the last couple of years, she’s returned to the character and put out three new ebook stories in the series. I really want to catch up on the series this year, so I picked up Yosemite, book six in the series. It was wonderful connecting with old friends for a new adventure.
Jack Prester works as a special ranger in the American National Parks system. He’s not assigned to any particular park. Instead, he goes to any park that is experiencing an unusual issue to help resolve it. Sadly for him (but happily for us) those issues usually seem to involve murder.
While it’s been almost ten years for me since I last read any of these books, it’s been two years for the characters since book five took place. In that time, Jack and his wife, Ev, have had a son who is a few months old. That complicates things for Jack’s newest assignment. He’s been asked to help hide three key witnesses for an upcoming trial against organize criminals. The idea is that Jack will take the three men, CPA’s with no outdoor survival skills, into the back country of Yosemite for two weeks so that no one else tries to kill them before the trial starts.
Jack knows the danger, but his father, also a park ranger, advises Jack against going now that he has a young family. Still, Jack takes on the task with his parents and Ev staying in Yosemite Valley so they can be close if he needs any help. Jack is in over his head trying to make sure the men survive the wilderness for two weeks, and the assassins who are out to get them are slowly figuring out where they are. Will Jack succeed? Or was his father right to warn him away?
As I said at the outset, it’s been roughly ten years since I read the previous book in the series. I slipped into this book like no time at all had passed. Granted, we don’t have a ton of recurring characters, but still, it was wonderful to be spending time with them again. Since the story is told from multiple points of view, we get plenty of time with Ev as well, which I was happy about. We also get to know Jack’s parents better. And Jack’s humor made me laugh a few times. Meanwhile, the men Jack is working to protect come alive as the book goes on.
And the story itself? It’s a thriller of sorts. This isn’t a high action book with lots of twists and surprises. Yet, because we get scenes from the point of view of the villains, we have a growing feeling of dread as we read and we wait for the confrontations we know will happen to come. It’s just a matter of when and where. And that tension is wonderful. I never wanted to put the book down because I had to know how things would turn out.
Now this isn’t to say we don’t get some twists. This just isn’t one of those twisty thrillers with something on every page. But it doesn’t have to be since it works perfectly the way it is.
I did feel like the end was a little rushed, meaning that a couple of things weren’t wrapped up in quite as neat a bow as I was hoping for. But it’s a minor complaint since it’s easy to guess what happens in those situations.
Yosemite is probably the National Park I know best (and even then, it’s been too long since I was there), so when I first saw the premise of this book, I was disappointing, thinking we’d spend all our time with Jack in areas I don’t know. Because of the multiple viewpoints, that turned out not to be the case, and I was happy to see plenty of references to the parts of the park that most tourists would know in addition to the parts most of us will never see.
I’m glad I already have the next two Jack Prester mysteries. With as much as I loved Yosemite, I am ready to visit another park with Jack soon.
Travel to more National Parks with the rest of the Jack Prester Mysteries.
I am intrigued by hiding people in the Park. It sounds like a fun read.
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