Winter des Bären

by Paul Bryers

Der erste Schnee ist gefallen in Bridport, Maine, einem verschlafenen kleinen Nest nahe der kanadischen Grenze.
Im eisigen Weiss liegt die Leiche einer jungen Frau, ihr Gesicht ist grausam entstellt. Alles deutet darauf hin, dass ein Baer sie angefallen hat. Doch Detective Michael Calhoun hat seine Zweifel, ob sie wirklich das Opfer eines Grizzly wurde. Denn es gibt viele Ungereimtheiten.
Der Ort, an dem man die Tote fand, ist umrankt von Geschichten und Geschichte. Hier lebten bereits lange vor den ersten weissen Siedlern die Souriquois-Indianer, und dieser Boden war ihnen heilig. Im Zuge seiner Ermittlungen stoesst Calhoun auf Schamanentum und Aberglauben, uralte indianische Mythen und Geheimnisse. Und er muss bald erkennen, dass man den Geistern der Vergangenheit nicht entrinnen kann.


»Bryers‘ Roman ist so atmosphaerisch dicht und so intensiv
wie Guterson‘s Schnee, der auf Zedern faellt .«
The Sunday Times

»Ein ausserordentlicher literarischer Kriminalroman.«
Publishers Weekly

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

aka Seth Hunter

Paul Bryers is the author of many fine novels, the most recent of which is THE PRAYER OF THE BONE. He is a TV and film director when he is not writing and he lives in London.

Reviews

[Georgie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the writing, characters and history, the plot was just a little too predictable

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman working at a dig is found dead, with her face badly clawed, as though by a bear. Obvious alert - a bear didn't do it.

This novel is an unusual mix of genres. It feels like a police procedural, with the kinda Irish detective who vaguely hates himself. It feels like literary fiction, with fancy descriptions of the forest and the snow. It's historical, with odd 1600s Native American history.

Sounds pretty cool, right? I thought so too. Main gripe: Cop falls in love with obvious person for obviously no reason. And she's like "Why won't he just kiss me?" *hair flip* #ladyproblems

My favorite thing was the disturbed daughter who sleepwalked and had a thing with bears.

Kinda creepy, kinda shallow. A good winter read.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old bones and ancient mysteries are confused with very modern crimes of greed. Really interesting history of early Anglo-European settlements and traditional indigenous culture. I'd expect more grief though.

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written mystery. Complicated, twisted, but that just makes it better. Two sisters are very different, although they grew up together in a wealthy British home, after their father left America and remarried.

One is steady, the other a free spirit. They are sent to boarding school together, but the free spirit doesn't do well in that atmosphere. Steady sister develops the habit of saving her sister from every mis-step, mistake, and bad decision until the sister moves to America and is murdered.

Steady sister travels to America, where she discovers that her sister was finding her Native American roots in an archeological dig. The history of the dig is the spine of the story. Was there a massacre in 1650 or was there simply a story about a massacre to keep reparations from being paid?

Holds your attention to the last page, and the twists and turns are neatly wrapped up.

[Tim]

I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book, and when characters were looking back on their past, specifically in regards to their relationships with each other.

I did not care for the murder mystery story, which seemed formulaic. I also found the characters when interacting in the present tense, to be flat and wooden. I also did not enjoy Bryers attempt to shoehorn bears into every aspect of the book he could. The attempts at supernatural did not appeal much to me at all, and the entire subplot involving the lonely priest did not belong and felt like filler. 7/03/10

[Mom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually would like to give this 2 1/2 stars. I enjoyed the information about the early settlers, as well as information about the native americans of the area. However, the presentation of this information could have been more interesting, not such a lecture style. Also, the romance/sex scenes seemed to be just tossed in, and didn't seem to have anything to do with the plot. As for the murder mystery, I felt that there didn't seem to be an investigation. The author focuses more on the history and back stories of the characters, but it just didn't fit together well. Wish there was more suspense and mystery. Overall it was a so-so book, and could have been much better!

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd actually give this a two and a half. It kept me interested to see how the mystery was solved, but parts of the book didn't flow that well.

[Louisa Newby · Rating 5 out of 5]

All in all I thought this was a pretty compelling read - very atmospheric and a gripping story.

[amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

and a half