Scan barcode
A review by mnboyer
The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne
5.0
Theo Cray is a professor who, for the most part, is minding his own business when one of his former students is found dead in the woods. At first, everyone thinks it is a pretty simple case of wrong place, wrong time, suggesting the poor grad student was mauled by a bear. However, for Theo there is something bugging him about this attack. As he begins to dig he finds evidence that the bear accused of her murder has actually been dead for at least a year... it would have been impossible for the bear in question to have killed her. So what, exactly, is out there?
Theo is one of those smart guys who is annoyingly smart, completely socially out of touch, and therefore finds himself in more trouble than it may be worth. He's brought in for questioning by cops that don't know anything about bear behavior (not that Theo knows much more, but he does know the bear in question is innocent and has been wrongfully killed), then decides to become his own detective, and winds up chasing a serial killer -- that's right. There's a serial killer out there in the woods, lurking, and he will kill again. If Theo can get to the bottom of it, and the cops can take a moment to actually believe him, they may solve several cold cases.
I found this to be predictable in a way that was charming. While listening/reading I would think, "Theo, don't tell the cop that, they're going to think you did it!" only to laugh when he'd get hauled into the slammer and questioned. So are there some predictable moments, absolutely. But they're the good kind that took me for the ride. Once you begin narrowing down the suspects and trying to find the serial killer, well, it becomes quite fun to listen to the stream of scientific jargon that Theo comes up with.
I'm a big fan. Will definitely be looking for the next book.
Theo is one of those smart guys who is annoyingly smart, completely socially out of touch, and therefore finds himself in more trouble than it may be worth. He's brought in for questioning by cops that don't know anything about bear behavior (not that Theo knows much more, but he does know the bear in question is innocent and has been wrongfully killed), then decides to become his own detective, and winds up chasing a serial killer -- that's right. There's a serial killer out there in the woods, lurking, and he will kill again. If Theo can get to the bottom of it, and the cops can take a moment to actually believe him, they may solve several cold cases.
I found this to be predictable in a way that was charming. While listening/reading I would think, "Theo, don't tell the cop that, they're going to think you did it!" only to laugh when he'd get hauled into the slammer and questioned. So are there some predictable moments, absolutely. But they're the good kind that took me for the ride. Once you begin narrowing down the suspects and trying to find the serial killer, well, it becomes quite fun to listen to the stream of scientific jargon that Theo comes up with.
I'm a big fan. Will definitely be looking for the next book.