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Book Review of Breakup (Kate Shugak, Bk 7)

Breakup (Kate Shugak, Bk 7)
Breakup (Kate Shugak, Bk 7)
Author: Dana Stabenow
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
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Either Stabenow was tipsy when she wrote this, or she deliberately set out to have fun and create a Warner Brothers cartoon. Reading suspiciously like several episodes of Northern Exposure rolled together (which one inspired the other, I wonder?), this book is a departure from her usual straight style with its (not-so) tongue in cheek humor wrapped around a mystery. Its madcap atmosphere is perfectly in tune with the story's setting, which is Alaska in the beginning of spring, called "breakup", a time when residents are going stir crazy as they anxiously await the end of winter. Kate's troubles begin when she encounters a bear on her homestead and narrowly escapes being its first spring meal, followed by a jet engine falling from the sky onto her truck in her yard, and then the discovery of a dead body under the ice. And that's just the beginning. This one is a rollicking good romp, though mystery purists be warned - this is another installment of the series where the murderer gets away with it.