Almost Midnight

It's April in Maine, and warden inspector Mike Bowditch has cut his fishing vacation short to visit his incarcerated friend Billy Cronk. Soon Mike learns that Billy is in the hospital after being wounded in a fight that killed a guard. When Mike goes to the hospital to see Billy, there's more violence, and an inmate dies. Next, Mike hears that Shadow, the wolf-dog he rescued, has been found grievously wounded up in the mountains. He heads north and meets a hostile reception. Mike's investigative mettle is tested as he tries to solve the two mysteries and save both human and animal. In this tenth book featuring Bowditch (after Stay Hidden), Doiron takes disparate elements of his protagonist's past and weaves them in a tight line, ramping up the tension slowly until the story reaches can't-put-it-down velocity. Readers unfamiliar with Mike's life and career won't get lost, as Doiron does plenty of telling to set up the plot.