St. Martin's Minotaur 2010
Japan: Hayakawa Shobo
United Kingdom: Constable & Robinson
Audio
Book Club
Australia: Reader's Digest
Brazil: Reader's Digest
Czech Republic: Reader's Digest
Germany: Reader's Digest
Hungary: Reader's Digest
Poland: Reader's Digest
Portugal: Reader's Digest
Romania: Reader's Digest
Russia: Reader's Digest
Slovenia: Reader's Digest
Spain (world Spanish): Reader's Digest
Awards
Barry Award for Best First Novel winner
Strand Magazine Critics Award for Best First Novel winner
Edgar Award for Best First Novel nominee
Mystery Readers International's Macavity Award for Best First Novel nominee
Salt Lake County Reader's Choice Award nominee
Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance 2011 Maine Literary Award for Fiction finalist
Deadly Ink's David Award for Best Mystery nominee
International Thriller Writers Thriller Award for Best First Novel nominee
One of PopMatters' Best Fiction Books of 2010
One of Booklist's Best Crime Novels of 2010
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The Poacher's Son
Set in the wilds of Maine, this is an explosive tale of an estranged son thrust into the hunt for a murderous fugitive his own father. Game warden Mike Bowditch returns home one evening to find an alarming voice from the past on his answering machine: his father, Jack, a hard-drinking womanizer who makes his living poaching illegal game. An even more frightening call comes the next morning from the police: They are searching for the man who killed a beloved local cop the night before and his father is their prime suspect. Jack has escaped from police custody, and only Mike believes that his tormented father might not be guilty. Now, alienated from the woman he loves, shunned by colleagues who have no sympathy for the suspected cop killer, Mike must come to terms with his haunted past. He knows firsthand Jacks brutality but is the man capable of murder Desperate and alone, Mike strikes up an uneasy alliance with a retired warden pilot, and together the two men journey deep into the Maine wilderness in search of a runaway fugitive. There they meet a beautiful woman who claims to be Jacks mistress but who seems to be guarding a more dangerous secret. The only way for Mike to save his father now is to find the real killer which could mean putting everyone he loves in the line of fire. The Poacher's Son is a sterling debut of literary suspense. Taut and engrossing, it represents the first in a series featuring Mike Bowditch.
Publishers Weekly (starred review):
Down East editor-in-chief Doiron takes a provocative look at the ties between fathers and sons, unconditional love, and Maine’s changing landscape in his outstanding debut. Fans of C.J. Box and Nevada Barr will appreciate the vivid wilderness scenes. Equally a story of relationships and an outdoor adventure, this evocative thriller is sure to put Doiron on several 2010 must-read lists.
Library Journal (starred review):
A richly imagined portrait of the vanishing wilderness in New England's farthest reaches, Doiron's (editor in chief, Down East: The Magazine of Maine) well-written debut is also a taut thriller and a thoughtful examination of the complicated relationship between father and son.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review):
Doiron will have his hands full trying to top his accomplished debut.
Booklist (starred review):
One hopes this fine novel is the first in a series starring Warden Bowditch, who could quickly become the East Coast version of C. J. Box's game-warden hero Joe Pickett, who patrols the range in Wyoming.
The New York Times Book Review:
Paul Doiron is the editor in chief of Down East magazine, so it shouldn't be a total surprise that his first novel, The Poacher's Son, comes with stunning vistas of the dense forests and wild rivers [of Maine]. The novel's eye-popping scenes, idyllic and otherwise, are conveyed by Doiron's narrator, Mike Bowditch, a rookie game warden who loves the "solitary and morbid profession" that is threatened when his father, Jack, a notorious poacher, is accused of murder. Jack is still a flamboyant character, one of the best sights in a book that has plenty of natural wonders.
The Daily Mail (UK):
A stunning debut from a journalist and native of Maine on America’s east coast, this story of a game warden seeking to clear his father of a double murder charge - including that of a local cop -- reeks of the state's woods, lakes and rivers.
Superb vistas are woven into Doiron's description of Warden Mike Bowditch's hunt for his fugitive father. No matter how much of a womaniser and heavy-drinker the old man may have been -- he left the boy alone with his mother when Mike was still a child -- Bowditch cannot shake the conviction that his father is innocent.
What follows is a chase across the wilderness, but there is far more to it than that. At its heart this is a tale of bitter betrayal, lost hopes and broken dreams. This is breathtaking story-telling -- rightly described in America as 'high octane narrative'.
The book has a tautness that is impossible to forget and which left me close to tears. It is also the first in a series. Its successor, Trespasser, also featuring Bowditch is on the way. Grab him now.
The Globe and Mail (Canada):
This is one of the best debut novels I've ever read. Doiron, a licensed wilderness guide and editor-in-chief of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, has put unforgettable characters into a gorgeous setting and does it all with a lovely, liquid prose style that I found irresistible. Doiron is definitely a writer to watch.
BookBrowse.com:
Paul Doiron expertly takes hundreds of miles of largely uninhabited terrain and pares them down to a veritable base camp providing readers with easy access to both the thrill of the story and the breathtaking beauty of Maine's northern exposure. Loaded with unexpected twists, The Poacher's Son takes you to the edge and leaves you begging for more.
BookSlut.com:
The author, who devoured Sherlock Holmes as a kid and Raymond Carver and Tim O'Brian as a younger man, has managed to craft a novel that lies somewhere between the two, a crime novel that encompasses the full range of human emotion. The novel is the first in a series that will follow Mike's emotional development as he grows to be the man he's meant to be. It's a fascinating character study with much promise for the future.
PopMatters:
Doiron's debut novel, is pure, unadulterated literary suspense. Beautifully crafted and perfectly paced, it makes you tuck your feet up under you while reading, and occasionally look nervously over your shoulder, just to make certain no one is there.
Nelson DeMille:
Paul Doiron's The Poacher's Son is one of the best-written debut novels I've read in years. This story has it all -- a great plot, a wonderful Maine woods setting, and a truly remarkable and believable cast of characters.
Tess Gerritsen:
The Poacher's Son is a haunting tale, and Paul Doiron is a powerful and evocative writer who poetically captures the majesty -- and the menace -- of Maine's north woods.
Andre Dubus III:
With precise and evocative prose, Paul Doiron weaves a riveting tale set deep in the wilderness that can be the tenuous bond between father and son. This is a compelling, moving, and utterly impressive debut!
C.J. Box:
Paul Doiron makes the backwoods culture of Maine come vibrantly alive in this excellent debut. The Poacher's Son is a fast-paced outdoor adventure filled with murder, betrayal, and a terrific sense of place. Welcome aboard, Mr. Doiron.
John Lescroart:
Paul Doiron is an accomplished and powerful new voice in suspense fiction, and The Poacher's Son is a gripping, original, and literate tale of love and loyalty, betrayal and redemption. You won’t want to put it down.
Monica Wood, author of Any Bitter Thing:
In The Poacher's Son, a baffling double murder forces Mike Bowditch to face his complex feelings for his father and, more poignantly, his well-hidden need for a sense of family. This is a page-turning, thoroughly satisfying blend of murder mystery and family drama. I fell in love with Mike, so I hope his creator is typing as fast as he can!
Julia Spencer Fleming, author of I Shall Not Want:
Paul Doiron is a spellbinding new storyteller whose literate, intelligent novel will have readers begging for more.
Lewis Robinson, author of Water Dogs:
Paul Doiron is a first-rate storyteller who masterfully evokes the moxie and mayhem of small-town Maine. The Poacher's Son won me over instantly.