I really love this series! I read all the previous books in the series to prepare for this ARC and I am so glad I did! I enjoyed watching Mike grow into the man he is and settle into his life! I can't wait for the next in the series to come out! I need to see where his life is going and what hijinks he will get up to.

#PitchDark
#NetGalley

I have not read all the books of this series but I am slowly pulling from the pile and reading them but I love them all. Mike is a warden in the state of Maine and he is not only a great tracker but he also knows what he is doing when it comes to investigating. When he finds out there is someone in the wilderness with a young girl in tow and there is someone who is looking for them. He and his father-in-law are dropped by plane into their area and quickly find they are not alone when they find a murder and are taken hostage. Twists and turns and so much thrilling fast paced intensity and just keep up. I was turning the pages and listening to the audio as quickly as possible just to find out what was going to happen next.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. Fifteenth in a series, I have read a few others, but not all, so this does okay as a stand alone. A few bits are a little unbelievable but an action packed book that could make a movie or short TV series.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book and read it in one sitting. I would definitely recommend this book. It held my attention and I wanted to know what would happen.

This book started with a great premise and a solid momentum— I feel like it lost it as the book progressed. This one simply did not do it for me as much as I thought it would.

It has some thrilling, suspenseful moments but I just couldn’t quite get into it.

Almost always the smartest man in the room, Maine Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch’s career exemplifies courage, self-possession, and off-the-scales stubbornness. Newly married to Stacey Stevens, Mike is on the cusp of middle-age, and it’s making him self-reflective. Have father-in-law Charley Steven’s homilies and aphorisms finally landed on fertile ground?

Nothing makes a person feel older than a newbie calling for advice. Brandon Barstow, 26, “recently graduated from the Advanced Warden School,” calls Mike from “the Rockwood district—a remote area of commercial timberland and nature preserves northwest of Moosehead Lake.”

“Hey, Mike,” he said. “I think I might possibly have a missing person case maybe.”



Might? Possibly? Maybe?



“That sounds serious, Brandon. Should I marshal the entire search and rescue team?”

Mike’s being a wiseass. Acknowledging that, he asks how he can help. It’s a long story—an intimidating character, Hammond Pratt, checked into a cabin at Ivanov’s remote hunting lodge, asked for help to rent an ATV, and left, without leaving a trip plan behind. Given the weather and the messed-up roads (because there’s been “no time for the crews to clear away the deadfalls”), it’s worrisome. Here’s what trips Mike’s switch.

“… Pratt was asking the staff if they knew anything about a man living with his young daughter in the woods nearby. He said they’d be keeping a low profile, this father and daughter. He was offering a hundred dollars to anyone who’d point him in the right direction.

Brandon said there’s an Alaskan Mark Redmond, and his daughter living off the grid near Seboomook Farm. Redmond is “building a cabin for Josie Jonson on Prentiss Pond, near the Canadian border.” Brandon has seen Redmond in town—ex-military, he thinks—but only bush pilot Josie has visited with the daughter. It feels like Mike’s life sometimes is one-degree-of-separation: Josie Jonson is Stacey’s godmother. It bothers Mike that the daughter lives in such seclusion. Why the concern wonders Stacey—is he reaching conclusions that aren’t merited? Mike falls back on his intuition, saying “something feels off.”

Why did Brandon call him first, rather than Josie?

I had to take a breath and remind myself that I, too, had been a rookie, although my problem had been—and perhaps still was—arrogance rather than indecision.



“I’ll handle it, Brandon.”



“You will?”

He gives Brandon marching orders—if Pratt’s not back by morning, Brandon is to watch the housekeepers clean Pratt’s room. There’s more not quite Rules by Hoyle advice, but he comforts Brandon with the assurance that he won’t catch blowback: “The district attorney has my number on speed dial.”

Stacey tells Mike that Josie can be combative and when it comes to Redmond, secretive.

“How do I persuade her, then? If she’s already mistrustful and super protective of Redmond?”



“Get my dad to do it. In fact, I think he should call her tonight and tell her about Pratt.”

Stacey predicts that if Mike drives to Jackman (where Josie lives), Charley will hitch a ride. “That’s a given,” says Mike. They take off the next morning, contending with some nasty weather. But it’s not the weather that has him discombobulated, it’s Stacey—she thinks they might be pregnant, and she plans to take a test the next day. Perhaps no one is ever quite ready for parenthood, but Mike’s father was a poacher—a hardened criminal—which inevitably plays with Mike’s emotions.

Mike tells Josie about Pratt searching for Redmond and his daughter but she’s reluctant to intrude on Redmond’s privacy—in return for an airtight, beautifully designed log cabin, she promised that he’d be left alone. She says, “That’s my worry here—that you’re going to spook him, being law enforcement, and he’s going to quit on the spot with my job half-done.” It takes all of Charley’s peacemaker skills to persuade Josie to fly them to the cabin site. During the trip, Charley tries charming Josie into letting him fly her “whirlybird” chopper. Doiron paints pictures of the rugged scenery with precisely accurate words—Mike is captured by the view: “And ravines flashed with iridescence where streams exploded into spray as they plunged downward toward the flooded rivers.”

They meet Cady first; her father is not around. She serves them coffee and Tarte au Sucre (Quebec Maple Sugar Pie). Redmond shows up, with an attitude: Mike struggles to stay civil. More coffee and conversation, “we had come to the moment of truth, and that was when I lost the rest of the conversation.”

Was I aware of us having been drugged? Did I ever try to fight back? I am inclined to think I did resist eventually, because later, I found a fist-shaped bruise above my solar plexus. The mark couldn’t be explained by the process of being dragged from the cabin and tied to a tree.

Mike rips his wrists raw trying to get free. He watches the father and daughter destroy everything Mike and Charley might use to escape—guns, cell phones, radios. Mike looks over at Josie—he’s worried by her slumping stance. He begs Mark and Cady to help Josie, but they refuse and take off, in their behemoth of a truck. Charley and Mike watch helplessly as Josie chokes and dies “on her own vomit.” Charley’s restraints were not as vicious as Mike’s and he’s able to free him.

Nothing will stop Mike from pursuing Mark and Cady, even across the Canadian border (where he has no status) if necessary. He sets out “alone and unarmed.” Charley warns Mike that Mark Redmond has masterful bushcraft skills— “Don’t presume you ever have the drop on him. Don’t presume he’s not thinking three moves ahead of your next gambit.” Mike bobs and weaves, getting close to the Redmonds, launching flares at them, and blowing out one of their tires before falling back. He does some damage but he’s in unfamiliar territory.

Most of the people I investigated had the brainpower of an opossum. It had been ages since I was confronted by a criminal whose practical intelligence scared me.



Mark Redmond scared me.

Paul Doiron has created an absorbing and evolving series that never fails to capture our attention. The first Mike Bowditch mystery was published in 2010. A few years later, Paul Doiron shared what he brought to the table when he started writing The Poacher’s Son.

I knew Maine—its landscapes, history, and people—from having grown up here and from having traveled to its most remote corners as a journalist.



As a lifelong sportsman, I knew about the outdoors, having spent uncounted hours paddling in canoes, wading in salt marshes, and bushwhacking through pathless forests. I knew that I rarely saw the natural world depicted in fiction with care, correctness, and curiosity.

Readers will be forgiven for thinking that Mike Bowditch is the bionic man—he punishes his body and mind, blowing past limitations and doubts. He pursues Mark Redmond in the pitch dark through thirty-six hours of pure adrenaline to “always get his man.” I have taken some license with a phrase most often associated with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who “always get their man,” but that seems appropriate for a story that is partially set on “world’s longest undefended border.” Make sure you have nothing else on your agenda because once you start reading Pitch Dark, you won’t be able to stop.

This was pitched as an on the edge thriller and I expected a lot out of it but it let me down. It started off fairly interesting but as we progressed through the book it felt like the momentum died.

Pitch Dark is the fifteenth book in the series and the second one I have read. This is an action-packed stand-alone read.


This one starts with Game Warden Mike Bowditch and Stacey now married and faced with the concern about becoming parents. While worrying about the idea Mike is called about the possibility of a missing man. As he and his father-in-law investigate this missing man it becomes clear that is something more sinister going on. Mike will become involved in a manhunt as well as trying to protect a young girl. This hunt will intensify, and Mike will find himself is danger of becoming the target of a murderer.

This is suspenseful story that builds with every chapter. It is well written and holds the reader's attention until the very end. Mu only complaint is there are several phrases in French, and it would have been nice to have them translated for us rather than guessing as to the meaning.

Although this one is number 15 in a series it works well as a stand alone. I enjoyed the thrilling story and action. Great characters and man I need a movie or tv show for this series. I think it would be a major hit.

Admittedly I haven’t read any of the previous installments in the series surrounding Mr Bowditch but in the end, I’m not sure it mattered. I am sure I would have seen some connections to previous stories if I knew them, but I definitely had no issues reading this as a standalone. This was definitely a pulse pounding story. One that you can’t set down once you get started. It feels like you’re watching one of those prime time crime TV/procedural shows, but better and more all encompassing. I can’t wait to go back and become even more acquainted with our game warden.

This is the first book I’ve read in this series and I think it can be read as a standalone.

I am a fan of North Woods Law so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try this series about a Maine Game Warden. I was not disappointed and I plan on reading the rest of the series!

I really enjoyed this story! It was fast paced and exciting. There is a lot of well written action and suspense. I enjoyed the remote location and I really liked Mitch.

It was so nice to catch up with Game Warden Mike Bowditch. A great mystery with well developed characters. I love a visit to the Maine north woods. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in this series.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.

A suspenseful thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat! I absolutely loved the rural setting in the woods and how I never knew what was going to happen next. This was the first book I read by this author so I read it as a standalone but I definitely want to read more from this author!

Pitch Dark is the 15th Mike Bowditch mystery by Paul Doiron. Released 25th June 2024 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out second quarter 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a wonderfully written series with an intelligent and honorable protagonist who works as an investigator for the Maine Warden Service (game warden). Although it has more thriller elements than the usual shopfront cozies, it's so well written, so redolent of the area and the outdoors, that it's an immersive and enjoyable read. Readers who are already fans of procedural thrillers will be right at home.

The plotting moves along at a good pace and the characters are relatable and well rendered. It's easy to believe their motivations and internal drives. The examination and detection on the part of the protagonist and his colleagues (and girlfriend Stacey) is meticulously written and very cleverly constructed. The final climax, denouement, and resolution were (as always) tense and satisfying. Although the mystery is self contained, the entire series is highly recommended and would be a great candidate for a long binge read.

It is self contained, and works well enough as a standalone, but if read out of order, there will be spoilers for character interrelationships and developments from earlier in the series.

Four and a half stars. This series will appeal very much to fans of Stabenow's Kate Shugak and Box's Joe Pickett mysteries.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

An action-packed adventure. As Mike Bowditch is experiencing a lot of firsts in his life, he goes out on a limb to check into some information regarding a missing person. When he asks his father-in-law for help, they head up into the remote wilderness of Maine, where things progressively get worse and more dire. Mike ends up on an unstoppable race against time, weather, and nature for the truth and revenge.

Pitch Dark is book 15 in the Mike Bowditch series. Though readers can pick up the series at any point, there are nuances that are lost with any long standing character. Mike Bowditch has not changed all that much throughout the series, as he has always been impulsive, fiercely loyal, with a strong moral compass. The books are pretty similar, with a formulaic plot. Mike gets involved in an incident, skirting the edge of his job description into territory that best be left to others. The troubles he faces are of a direct result of his curious nature. Pitch Dark is no different, though I do like the peripheral characters that float into the pages. I wish that author Paul Doiron would evolve Mike Bowditch and bring him back into the fold. I think there are more stories that can be told, but the lone ranger persona is becoming tired.

Personally, I have enjoyed following Mike Bowditch through the Maine landscape, as I much of my childhood was spent vacationing up in paper company territory. The descriptions of Maine, especially its unspoiled terrain, evoked memories. That being said, I hesitate to recommend Pitch Dark to other readers. The story itself was average, with not much to really change or evolve the character.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Pitch Dark by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to review this book was entirely my own.

A masterful addition to the Mike Bowditch series and delivers a gripping and atmospheric thriller. Bowditch’s determination, resourcefulness, and moral complexity add layers to the story, making his pursuit of justice all the more engaging.
Many thanks to St Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you are looking for a high octane, fast paced read, that does not let up. This is the book you are looking for. I loved the setting for this book, the characters, and the story hooked me from the first page. Paul Doiron brings you into the vastness of the northern Maine Wilderness. I mean you all know Maine is one of my favorite places in the world, so right there I was down for anything.

Mike Bowditch is relaxing at home with his wife and wolfdog, when he gets a phone call about a missing man. He has been asking around town about a father and young daughter that have been building cabins. Mike's interest is immediately piqued and calls his father-in-law to see if he wants to head north to a remote area of the state to kick some rocks and ask some questions. What awaits them is nothing that anyone could possibly imagine. As Mike tears through the trees, swamps, and rain looking for any clue that could lead him in the right direction and for some answers. This is one I do not want to give away too many details and give it all away.

The twists and turns had me hanging upside down, swinging from the trees. The freezing cold damp settling into my bones. Let me just tell you the final twist left me with my heart in my throat. This is my first Paul Doiron and it will not be the last. I have fourteen other books to read in this series and I cannot wait.

(Rounded up from 4.5 stars)

This was a very dark and atmospheric thriller. It kept me on the edge of my seat, and gosh, was I blown away by the final twist! Wow! I loved the setting, and the way that Canada was woven in. Mike Bowditch reminds me so much of Jack Reacher, except he is present law enforcement. Loved his relationship with his father-in-law and his sense of right and wrong over jurisdiction. I definitely want to read more of this series.

This was another good story featuring game warden Mike Bowditch. I liked it, although it would have been nice to have seen secondary characters a bit more. Mike is chasing a killer along the (porous?) Maine and Canadian border, hoping to stop him from crossing over. This time it's a very solitary adventure that Mike embarks on, so he is on his own for a good part of the book, relying on things at hand.