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35th out of 55 books
—
40 voters
Breakup (Kate Shugak #7)
by
Dana Stabenow (Goodreads Author)
April in Alaska is the period of spring thaw, what the locals call breakup. For Kate, this year's meltdown brings nothing but mayhem. First, the snow uncovers a dead body near Kate's home. Then a woman is killed in a suspicious bear attack. Kate is drawn further into the destruction of breakup -- and into the path of a murderer...
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
April 1st 1998
by Berkley
(first published 1997)
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And in this episode....
Kate's homestead gets sat on by an airplane engine falling out of the sky. While the investigators are checking the engine landing out, they discover a body in the woods outside of Kate's property.
Kate's friend Mandy's parents are in town and driving Mandy nuts, so Mandy begs Kate to take them on a tour, using Mandy's new truck. Kate and the parents run into a man who claimed his wife was killed and eaten by a bear.
And through all of this Kate is finding her new and evolv...more
Kate's homestead gets sat on by an airplane engine falling out of the sky. While the investigators are checking the engine landing out, they discover a body in the woods outside of Kate's property.
Kate's friend Mandy's parents are in town and driving Mandy nuts, so Mandy begs Kate to take them on a tour, using Mandy's new truck. Kate and the parents run into a man who claimed his wife was killed and eaten by a bear.
And through all of this Kate is finding her new and evolv...more
Dec 07, 2010
Kirsty Darbyshire
added it
This series seems to revolve less and less around mystery as it goes on. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it can get a bit bemusing at times.
I spent the first half of this book enjoying what was going on (gun fights, bear attacks, engines falling out of the sky) but waiting for the main mystery to break. In the second half I just got on with enjoying it and didn't worry about it. In retrospect there is a murder in the book and it is solved but the proportion of page space taken up by this
...more
Kate Shugak grabs the bull by the horns, any bull before her, with tenacity and initiative, sometimes whether it’s hers to take or not. A thirty-something Aleut woman living on her own in rural Alaska, the forces weighing on her personally include an alluded-to past in law enforcement (this is my first Kate Shugak book, but the seventh in the series) and the responsibilities inherited from her deceased grandmother who was a very capable tribal elder. In Breakup, these forces are put to serious t...more
Teton County Library Call No: M STABENOW
Dawn's rating: 3 stars
Stabenow’s mysteries are set in Alaska and feature terrific characters and fast action plots. This novel is set in spring during “breakup” when locals are going crazy from cabin fever and the huge ice flows are melting and breaking up. A metaphorical breakup ensues as well, when Kate Shugak, an Aleut native who lives on a homestead and is supposed to be retired from her high powered crime fighting job in Anchorage, is called into act...more
Dawn's rating: 3 stars
Stabenow’s mysteries are set in Alaska and feature terrific characters and fast action plots. This novel is set in spring during “breakup” when locals are going crazy from cabin fever and the huge ice flows are melting and breaking up. A metaphorical breakup ensues as well, when Kate Shugak, an Aleut native who lives on a homestead and is supposed to be retired from her high powered crime fighting job in Anchorage, is called into act...more
Stabenow’s mysteries are set in Alaska and feature terrific characters and fast action plots. This novel is set in spring during “breakup” when locals are going crazy from cabin fever and the huge ice flows are melting and breaking up. A metaphorical breakup ensues as well, when Kate Shugak, an Aleut native who lives on a homestead and is supposed to be retired from her high powered crime fighting job in Anchorage, is called into action once again to find out who killed the dead body found near...more
Breakup in Alaska is when Winter is getting ready to be Spring and people, animals and even the sky go crazy for a little while. I loved this book! One crazy thing after another happens to and around Kate and the residents of the park. You have grizzly attacks, jet engine dropping on Kate's compound, more grizzly attacks, a plane flipping over and sliding into the truck Kate was driving, a woman killed by a grizzly, a woman shooting up the mail plane and running after her drunk no good husband,...more
While most of the mystery novels by Dana Stabenow (my new favorite escapist author of the week) can get a bit grim, being murder mystery novels, this one is like a National Lampoon movie. Kate's bad day starts when she gets charged by a bear, continues as a bear knocks over her meat cache, and then a jet engine lands on her truck, spraying shrapnel throughout her house. Hilarity continues with one crazy adventure after another, as she guides a friend's Boston-riche parents past the site of a bea...more
I am reading the Kate Shugak series from the start, and this is the latest book I've read. With each passing story, Shugak's Native American roots are developed more profoundly, along with the difficulty tribal life faces on many fronts. Shugak is a tough, appealing character, and the author does a marvelous job deepening the reader's understanding of the woman as the stories unfold...as well as painting a fascinating word-portrait of life in Alaska. My only complaint (if it's that) is the unbel...more
I'm not sure if this was meant to be a light-hearted book because murder isn't ever light-hearted, but this boom made me laugh out loud in a number of places. It's spring time in Alaska. The bears are waking up and after surviving the long arctic winter, it's not just the bears who are cranky. Kate's day starts with a bear charging her continues with a jet engine falling on her homestead. She becomes a tour guide for a friend's Boston Brahmin parents, and this tour becomes something to be rememb...more
I did not like this book as much as bookpatch did (which really is surprising :=D ). Maybe I don't have a good enough feel for what it's like living in the Alaskan bush country but I felt that the amount of events occuring together seemed very improbable and especially towards the end, a little over the top for me. I wanted Kate to be just a little more concerned about the condition of her homestead, getting the money from the air cargo company (wouldn't that be foremost on one's mind?) and feed...more
I really had fun listening to this recorded book. There was less nervous tension than in the previous books even though serious things were happening during breakup (when winter ends and spring begins): being chased by a hungry bear, airplane engine falling on Kate's car, a dead body near her cabin, a woman being killed by a bear, feuding families shooting guns outside and inside the local bar, the mail plane tipping over while landing, and much more. There were lots of twinkling of eyes during...more
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Read for f2f Mystery group. As this is well on in the series I found it a little hard to sort out the characters & relationships. This was more of a cozy than expected with more emphasis on the characters and their daily life than on the actual mystery. Lots of great humor and quirky characters and info about Aleut culture. (The grizzly bear scenes were truly scary.) I was reminded a bit of Northern Exposure and the Canadian series North of Forty. In the end I really enjoyed it and this is...more
This was my first Dana Stabenow book. I found it at a Boucheron conference and then made the mistake of opening it. After that, I didn't want to do anything but read, and as soon as I got home, I bought the rest of Dana's mysteries. She offers a darkly compelling view of life in the Alaskan bush, well laced with lots of gallows humor. Her characters are very believable, the story lines are always suspenseful, and every now and then she lets a truly vile villain be eaten by a grizzley. Who could...more
There were times when this book was simply hilarious. I got a little bogged down when it got to the discussion of a health care clinic, which of course, is a good idea when the people live in a remote area, miles away from urgent care, etc. Presumably this book gives a taste of what it is like to live in the Alaskan wilderness where the predators might not just be grizzly bears, but other humans. This is the third or fourth Kate Shugak book that I have read, and I find them quite entertaining.
This is my favorite so far in this series. Running up backwards on a river bank, bear attacks the food building and the garage, plane engin falls on house, a moose, a bear, two drunks on atvs and a gamewarden. One found dead man (he had been dead for awhile.), a bear makes a ford truck backup with the brakes on. One found dead woman, (bear?), upside down plane wing slides under ford truck. Three shootings, two of them at the bar. Kate with a front in loader.... You have to read it for your self.
This is my personal favorite in this series. I've been a big fan of Dana Stabenow and this Kate Shugak series ever since my mom discovered them and clued me in years ago. The writing sparkles (no one does inner thoughts and dialogue like Dana), Kate is her usual brilliant self, and this is the book I turn to when things are going really badly in my life, because I know, short of nuclear disaster, my day is NEVER going to be as bad as Kate's in this book.
A strong three stars. Stabenow's writing is terrific and she creates a world in the Alaskan bush and an Aleut heroine, Kate Shugak, compelling enough that I'll be reading more in this series. My quibble with this book is the ridiculous number of dramatic things that happen in the first third of it...but no doubt Spring in Alaska, and particularly "breakup," when the ice is melting, is a crazy time.
This tale of Kate's was the comic relief of the series. What a scream. The first 1/2 of the book takes place in one day. ONE DAY!
You think to yourself, NAH, that can't happen, but it is so well written you are certain it did and you were there! Dana is a great writer and the tales of Alaska are more than charming. They are a fabulous read.
You think to yourself, NAH, that can't happen, but it is so well written you are certain it did and you were there! Dana is a great writer and the tales of Alaska are more than charming. They are a fabulous read.
Just when I think I know what to expect from this series - moody, atmospheric mysteries with a heavy dose of Alaskan history and spiritualism - along comes this crazy, mad-cap romp through the craziness that is an Alaskan spring. Definitely a fun read, in spite of the grizzliness of the murder.
For anyone who loves quirky small towns and thier inhabitants, lives one step away from the great outdoors, and loves a good laugh at no one's expense this is one stunning book. I laughed so hard my husband had to pick it up and he was just as hooked as I was.
As other reviewers have pointed out, this book did have a little less mystery in it than some of Stabenow's other novels. However, I loved it anyway! It made me laugh out loud several times, and it kept me interested all the way to the end.
This was the first book that I read from Dana Stabenow and since I live in Alaska it was great insight to the Native people. I love her books and I love learning about Alaska and the great people who live here and "yes" Dana's research is spot-on.
I have no right to ever complain about a bad day again... when compared to poor Kate S in this tale. Always enjoy the rural Alaskan barkdrop to some pretty good mysteries. This is Number 7 in the series and a current special on B&N Nook.
A LOT of action but an overall fun book. By p. 56, there were something like four bear attacks, a shootout, a plane engine that fell through the protagonist's roof and a body found near her house.
Will be fun to read more of these books.
Will be fun to read more of these books.
Dec 14, 2008
Betty
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
read-before-2006,
aboriginal,
murder-mystery,
novels,
series,
fiction,
humor,
investigative,
mystery,
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This is my favorite Kate Shugak story. Not quite the usual story but hilarious. Imagine beginning your day with a jetplane dropping its engine right behind your house! After a long Alaskan winter it is Break Up time, hungry bears awakening, rivers starting to run, and insanity in bloom after so many long days in the dark and cold. This one is hard to find, must be popular with more than me! I first read it as a library book, as I did with most of the series and have been gradually buying them ev...more
I am a big fan of Stabenow and Kate Shugak, but this one is especially good. I don't look to Stabenow for humor, generally her books are rather grim, but this one is a good mystery that is funny!
If I ever entertained grandiose thoughts of living in Alaska this particular book in the series brought me to my senses and also a bit more humor in this one even though a murder needs solving.
Jul 28, 2011
Joyceling
added it
Hilarious account of the Spring thaw release of energy in Alaska! Awakened grizzly bears, falling jet engines, personal feuds, drunken hunters, and a wild ride on a D-6 Caterpillar tractor. Loved it.
Much funnier and frantically paced than I remember the previous books in the series being. From the first page Kate must deal an escalating set of calamities. Very quick, entertaining read.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Danamaniacs: Breakup *SPOILERS* | 1 | 2 | May 08, 2013 08:30pm |
Dana Stabenow was born in Anchorage and raised on 75-foot fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there somewhere.
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