STAY HIDDEN by Paul Doiron

"A thrilling crime novel set on a remote island..."

Stay Hidden

Posted: June 29, 2018

STAY HIDDEN is the ninth book in the Mike Bowditch series and I was thrilled once again step into Mike's world. Now, I have only read two books previously in this series, but I enjoy this series very much. Especially since reading about a game warden is a bit different from the usual police or sheriff novels I usually read.

In STAY HIDDEN, Mike Bowditch has been promoted to Warden Investigator. This promotion means he's appointed to investigate the mysterious death of a woman shot by a deer hunter on the remote Maquoit Island. However, Mike's investigation gets complicated when the deer hunter claims he wasn't the woman's shooter. Now, Mike has to try to figure out what really happened...

Nothing thrills me so much as reading a crime novel set on a remote island with suspicious people who are not happy to have an outsider among them. Mike has been given a difficult case to solve. I was very curious to learn what had really happened and why. In addition to his case, Mike has also been dealt a blow in his love life, and this added a personal element to the overall narrative. However, there are plenty of fish in the water and one specific person returned into his life in the last book and has a small part in this book that will be interesting to follow in the next books. I found STAY HIDDEN an engrossing read. Paul Doiron is a fabulous writer and I'm looking forward to reading the books from the start, as well as coming books in the future!

Book Summary

A supposed hunting accident becomes a dangerously complicated murder investigation in Stay Hidden, the intricately-plotted new thriller from Paul Doiron featuring Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch.

A woman has been shot to death by a deer hunter on an island off the coast of Maine. To newly promoted Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch, the case seems open and shut. But as soon as he arrives on remote Maquoit Island he discovers mysteries piling up one on top of the other.

The hunter now claims he didn't fire the fatal shot and the evidence proves he's telling the truth. Bowditch begins to suspect the secretive community might be covering up the identity of whoever killed the woman, known as Ariel Evans. The controversial author was supposedly writing a book about the island's notorious hermit. So why are there no notes in her rented cottage?

The biggest blow comes the next day when the weekly ferry arrives and off steps the dead woman herself. Ariel Evans is alive, well, and determined to solve her own "murder" even if it upsets Mike Bowditch's investigation and makes them both targets of an elusive killer who will do anything to conceal his crimes.