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DANA STABENOW

Kate Shugak left her job as an investigator for the Anchorage District Attorney's office and returned to her home in the Alaskan bush, where she lives with her dog Mutt (who is a dog/wolf hybrid) near her family and friends. Kate is a strong, independent woman with a fierce love for the wilderness (the Alaskan landscape is as much an actor in these stories as any of the characters) and the people who live in it. These books are extraordinary in their depiction of the clash between modern and traditional life in Alaska.

A Cold Day For Murder
A Fatal Thaw
Dead In The Water
A Cold Blooded Business
Play With Fire
Break Up
Blood Will Tell
Killing Grounds
Breakup

Readers' Reviews

A Fatal Thaw
   Reviewed by Geffin M. Falken, ND

Kate Shugak, the Alaskan Native American protagonist of Stabenow's award-winning series,is a woman of tremendous self-containment and self-reliance. Both of these qualities save her life in this middle book of the series. Kate is a resident of a vast, unnamed park in the Alaskan tundra. She lives alone, without amenities and with her wolf/companion. Sounds like the makings of a historical novel, but it's not. It's set in present time and that's part of the draw of this writer and this protagonist. They are both living and creating on the edge of existence. Because of that fact, they know exactly what life means and how to survive it and prevail. Simple words for a very daunting task and one which most of us never face in our convenience-ridden, urban or pastoral lives. Twentieth century life, as we know it, has not arrived in the Alaskan wilderness, nor is it likely to any time soon. That's just fine with the residents of this story. They prefer their isolation and sense of removal from the frenetic pace of our lives. Their connection to the land and themselves is iron-clad and unshakable. The truths they know from this connection give them an almost transcendental sense of being. Not to put too existential a turn on all these notions, you must read this book, as much for the gripping insights into the mind of a serial killer as for the look into our own existences. After reading A Fatal Thaw, I felt small and inconsequential in a way, as if I'm missing out on the true meaning of life. The final chapters leave you breathless and Stabenow's prose is so crystalline clear and precise you feel the dry Alaska wind on your cheek. Get this book!

Visit Dana Stabenow's Homepage:

http://www.alaska.net/~stabenow