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Title: Starvation Camp
Author: Bill Pronzini
Narrator: Norman Dietz
Format: Unabridged
Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
Language: English
Release date: 06-24-11
Publisher: Recorded Books
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
Best-selling western author Bill Pronzini writes gripping mysteries set in the desperate days of the old West. Filled with wide open spaces and dusty, hard-bitten characters, Starvation Camp tells the story of a Canadian Mountie as he hunts down his lovers murderers. Isolated and cold, our hero traverses the harsh, mountainous landscapes of the Yukon in singleminded pursuit. But soon madness and hunger come calling. Featuring a stirring narration from Norman Dietz, this dark western will chill your bones and your soul.
Members Reviews:
THIS WRITER DELIVERS!
This book was written in 1984. What took me so long to find it? I have enjoyed reading Bill Pronzini's short stories for Ellery Queen Magazine for YEARS! Had this book I came across, at a Friends of the Library sale, been by an author with whom I was unfamiliar, I wouldn't have bought it. It's billed a Western; not my genre. But, because it was, also, a MYSTERY BY PRONZINI, I bought it. I've ordered some other Pronzini books since finishing this one. It's a simple story. The characters are interesting, especially McQuestion, who reminded me of my husband (LOL)! The journey the Mountie makes to find the killers is not only interesting, it's educational! I love learning something I didn't even know I wanted to know! I looked up the descriptive words that painted the picture of the Yukon and California in the time of the Gold Rush, to enjoy the well-written story better -- rather than have "some idea", or just move along. I relished the book. I am just SO DISAPPOINTED that Pronzini has written no more McQuestion books since!
Cracking adventure-mystery yarn
despite being marketed as such this is not really a Western .It does not take place in the traditional settings of the Western ,opening as it does in Canada ,before moving on into Alaska ,San Francisco and Seattle
Its protagonist is Zachary McQuestion ,a US citizen albeit one serving in the Northwest Mounted Police -the Canadian Mounties-in the Yukon .It is an especially severe and prolonged winter and food is scarce when McQuestion finds the dead bodies of a storekeepr Molly Malone and her two employees .They have been killed for the food in their store .McQuestion has personal as well as professional interest in the case -he and the dead woman had been lovers and she was a kindly and generous soul .He vows revenge and defies the orders of his commanding officer ,the formidable Colonel Steele ,and sets out to trace the killers ,at no matter what cost .
They are a disreputable pair of Bay Area prospectors named Thaxter and Loomis and in pusuit of them he takes ship to the US ,a nation gripped by war fever as the 1898 war against Spain is looming ever closer
The hunt makes compelling reading and the detctive element ,while slight is well handled .McQuestion is a suitably rugged hero ,one with a troubled past having been betrayed by the woman he loved ,while the twin villains are eminently thuggish and nasty .
The action is crisp and well described without recourse to lip-smacking violence and the nature writing is exceptional especially when the author is describing the Canadian and Alaskan wilderness
This is a very satisfying adventurevtale and highly recommended
Western Crime Fiction at its Best
Author Pronzini is a terrific mystery author. Starvation Camp is a reprint of a "western" from earlier in his career. In this book, a Mountie tracks down the killers of his lover.
