DNF @ 33%. This book is mind numbingly boring. I'm a third of the way through this book, and hardly anything has happened. The main character, Laura, has accomplished going to the ranger station and hiking up a mountain for a bit. But we've had time for a scientific lecture on climate change, complete with statistics. We've also had a lecture about the evils of sensational science reporting. Laura has spent a fair bit of time thinking about the deal she's been offered to buy her science website, as well as various articles she's published on the site and the reactions she's gotten to the articles.

I don't care about Laura. I don't care if Professor Sorel is alive. I didn't even care when we found a dead body in the woods.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All views and opinions are my own.

Roanoke Ridge impressed me. It does not set out to convince you of something or persuade you to the authors beliefs. I never felt like I was being subtly fed the authors opinions on the possible existence of the creature. It has a balance of fact and fiction that make it enjoyable to read. The characters were interesting without being overly complex and ending was satisfying. I am definitely interested in reading more of the series.

Title: Roanoke Ridge
Author: J. J. Dupuis
Rating: 4.5 stars

Initial thoughts
A book about Bigfoot? Oh yes, I needed to read this one. I love books like this because they help me escape from my everyday life.

Description
When Bigfoot researcher Professor Berton Sorel goes missing in the rainforest of Roanoke Ridge, Oregon, help is summoned in the form of his former star pupil, Laura Reagan, online science populist and avowed skeptic. But what begins as a simple search and rescue operation takes a drastic turn when a body is discovered — and it isn’t the professor’s.

Caught in the fallout of the suspicious death, perplexed by a sudden wave of Bigfoot sightings, and still desperately searching for Professor Sorel, Reagan reluctantly admits two things: her old mentor was right about there being secrets hidden in Roanoke Ridge, and it’s up to her to uncover them.

Characters
We follow the story through the eyes of Laura Reagan. She is a former student of Berton Sorel, she doesn’t believe in Bigfoot but confused too. A smart, strong-minded woman who wants to get to the bottom of her former professor’s disappearance and the truth behind her father’s experience with Bigfoot. I really grew fond of her as the story went.
Her sidekick is Saad, who is loyally follows Laura around. He proves to be useful and brave too.
Ranger Ted started out as an arrogant idiot but turned out to be kind, and smart, someone Laura can rely on. I have to admit that he is my favourite character. I like it when a character seems to be a negative one but turns out to be one of the good guys.

Writing style/ Ending
The story was easy to follow, I loved the twists, and the mystery behind Bigfoot.
I was flipping through the pages, to find out what happened next.
I was expecting a different ending though, something a little bit mysterious.

I very much enjoyed this tale and I hope there will be a next book about another mysterious creature.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for my advance copy. All opinions are my own.

3 stars

Laura Reagan and her friend Saad travel to Roanoke Ridge in Oregon to look for her former professor Berton Sorel who has gone missing on a hiking trip in search of Bigfoot. Laura now runs a website that is science-based, either supporting or debunking current theories about new (or old), discoveries in the science fields.

At the same time, there is a Bigfoot Festival going on in the little town, adding several hundred people to the crowds in the street. There are several “sightings” of the beast, but the images caught on a cell phone are too blurry to make out much.

On Laura and Saad's first foray into the woods searching for the professor, they find a dead man on t he trail. Ranger Ted accompanies them and feels it is an accident, but Laura spots signs that it was murder.

Laura learns some hard truths about her beloved father and his friends, as well as Professor Berton Sorel.

I am not sure how I feel about this book. It was fairly well written, but it wandered a little bit. The characters weren't as engaging as I had hoped. Saad was almost a non-person. I had no grasp of him at all. I like to get to know the main characters in any book I read (even if I don't like them). Neither was there very much science in the book. I was also disappointed in that. This book was just not as good as the novels Dundurn usually publishes.

I want to thank NetGalley and Dundurn for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read, enjoy and review.

3.5 Stars rounded to 4. Many thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for this enjoyable, intriguing mystery. From childhood, I was fascinated by books and articles dealing with cryptozoology. I was always skeptical of reports of sightings of legendary creatures such as Sasquatch(Bigfoot), Yeti, Loch Ness Monster, and other creatures unproven by scientific research. I never believed in them, but always held the hope that one day such a creature’s existence would be confirmed.

I enjoyed the protagonist/Investigator, Laura Reagan. She has a popular website that aims to bring scientific facts to its vast audience, and she is always skeptical of myths and scientific hoaxes. Her goal is to expose fraud and rumours through well-researched truths. She is cynical, resourceful, and physically tough. Her past experience in wilderness hiking and camping with her father has given her endurance and stamina. In addition, she has had martial arts training.

The story is set in Roanoke Ridge in the Oregon wilderness. There have been a number of recent sightings of Bigfoot reported in the vicinity, and the annual Bigfoot Festival is approaching. It draws enthusiasts and believers to the area. There is also present a disgraced hoaxer who falsely claimed to have the body of a Sasquatch in his possession.

Laura is drawn to the festival because her old college mentor, a respected and eccentric man searching for Bigfoot has disappeared and she is determined to find him. She is also on a mission to gather material for her websites and hoping to recover a long-missing videotape. This was made years before by Laura’s father and is said to show a distant view of a Sasquatch and its child.

I thought that the characters of Laura, and of Saad, computer expert and assistant, also Park Ranger and guide, Ted were well-developed personalities. I felt the important secondary characters were introduced too quickly, lacked depth, and I had difficulty sorting them out. After a slow beginning, the team discovers the body of a man who appears to have been murdered. The suspense, pace and tension increase considerably. Laura and her friends continue the search for the elderly professor. They are in danger as a conspiracy begins to unfold.

The cover and final chapter seem to forecast further books in a series. I eagerly anticipate reading about Laura’s next adventures.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the galley of this book.

SO. This book. It was kinda campy, and a fun romp...but then it feels like there are a couple chapters missing at the end. The ending & "reveals" happen so abruptly it's jarring, especially after the slower, meandering pace of the story prior. I don't think it sets up the conceit of the story super well, and it doesn't give a ton of background information, which I felt lacking. The characters feel a bit flat, too, but that's my own personal gripe.

The writing is incredible, but if you don't have a background in biology/anthropology/possibly archaeology?, you may want to have a dictionary handy, because this book is riddled with science jargon and basically none of it is explained. For the pace of the first 80% of the book to be so slow, the last 20% careens at breakneck speed and the whole tone of the book shifts along with it. It feels a little like I read two totally different books but with similar plot lines.

It's a short, fun read, and I wouldn't discourage you from reading it. I just felt a bit disappointed overall by it.

This is another Dundurn book, and I have to say that Dundurn remains one of my favorite publishers, particularly in the mystery genre. Dundurn's detectives are a quirky, diverse group, and I keep finding myself hoping that titles will become series (or that series will be extended) because I want to spend time with these new "friends." For that reason, I'm delighted that Roanoke Ridge is subtitled to indicate it won't be a one-off.

Laura Reagan, the central character of Roanoke Ridge, is a science blogger and the daughter of a well-known bigfoot hunter. Laura's blog focuses on myth-busting, so when she attends a bigfoot celebration to investigate the disappearance of a former professor and mentor, we have a perspective that is both critical (blogger) and sympathetic (father's daughter). Laura is accompanied by her best friend Saad, a computer whiz originally from Pakistan.

The bigfoot celebration draws all sorts of believers and "believers": an unscrupulous hoaxer; a friendly Brit who loves dissecting bits of Bigfoot research; a grad student studying bigfoot, whose real agenda is using her data to demonstrate the reality of climate change to an audience generally hostile to mainstream science; and more.

The central mystery here works well enough, but the real heart of the book is the characters. I'll be checking the Dundurn catalogue regularly to see when I'll next be able to spend time with Laura Reagan.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions are my own.