Trespasser: A Novel

Written by Paul Doiron

Narrated by Henry Leyva

In Paul Doiron's riveting follow-up to his Edgar Award–nominated novel, The Poacher's Son, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch's quest to find a missing woman leads him through a forest of lies in search of a killer who may have gotten away with murder once before.

While on patrol one foggy March evening, Bowditch receives a call for help. A woman has reportedly struck a deer on a lonely coast road. When the game warden arrives on the scene, he finds blood in the road—but both the driver and the deer have vanished. And the state trooper assigned to the accident appears strangely unconcerned.

The details of the disappearance seem eerily familiar. Seven years earlier, a jury convicted lobsterman Erland Jefferts of the rape and murder of a wealthy college student and sentenced him to life in prison. For all but his most fanatical defenders, justice was served. But when the missing woman is found brutalized in a manner that suggests Jefferts may have been framed, Bowditch receives an ominous warning from state prosecutors to stop asking questions.

For Bowditch, whose own life was recently shattered by a horrific act of violence, doing nothing is not an option. His clandestine investigation reopens old wounds between Maine locals and rich summer residents and puts both his own life and that of the woman he loves in jeopardy. As he closes in on his quarry, he suddenly discovers how dangerous his opponents are, and how far they will go to prevent him from bringing a killer to justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jun 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781427212269

Paul Doiron

A native of Maine, bestselling author PAUL DOIRON attended Yale University, where he graduated with a degree in English. The Poacher’s Son, the first book in the Mike Bowditch series, won the Barry award, the Strand award for best first novel, and has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity awards in the same category. He is a Registered Maine Guide specializing in fly fishing and lives on a trout stream in coastal Maine with his wife, Kristen Lindquist.

Reviews for Trespasser

[michaelkelberer · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book 2 of the Bowditch series. He doesn't follow up on a missing girl at a deer collision and she ends up dead, and her lover missing (later found dead). Murky plot, and Mike as usual leaves common sense behind as he pursues leads. Finally they nail the guy in prison for an earlier murder with same M/O. Mike loses his girlfriend and makes enemies of the police and his game warden group…..

[usuallee · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Solid, professional mystery. It featured the standard plot structure and machinations of a thriller. There was a hint of "I've read this before", but on the other hand the plot was fairly intricate and had just enough of a twist in the formula, with good solid writing. I do like the character and the fact that it takes place in Maine. Will read the next in the series.

[tmph_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It's not written by a 24 yr old, I found out after I was ready to give up, which led me to trudge on. The author says he's interested in the kid's "growth." So. I thought I'd give the author a chance. Well, it's an interesting story / plot, I ignore the ridiculousness of Bowditch's actions, lying, disrespect of his job and his girlfriend, and stayed interested in the story. So. Not bad. Will read another. We'll see.

[whybehave2002 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So good I read it in 24 hours! :) I'd like to also note that if you want to read this series you will be content to pick them up at any point. I have read them out of order and still love them!

[jbreedlove_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first book I gave a 4.5 for its novelty. The second had a better story but the realization that Bowditch should've have been fired makes him seem unreal. Theshoddy Maine geography is othersome as well (I'm used to S. King doing it but . . ). Great story though and his writting on the woods and waters of Maine is prosaic without being obvious and old. I also like the way he seems prepared to change large aspects of they storylines gestalt (girlfriend leaving). A solid 4.

[jepeters333 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While on patrol one foggy March evening, Bowditch receives a call for help. A woman has reportedly struck a deer on a lonely coast road. When the game warden arrives on the scene, he finds blood in the road - but both the driver and the deer have vanished. And the state trooper assigned to the accident appears strangely unconcerned. The details of the disappearance seem eerily familiar. Seven years earlier, a jury convicted lobsterman Erland Jefferts of the rape and murder of a wealthy college student and sentenced him to life in prison. For all but most fanatical defenders, justice was served. But when the missing woman is found brutalized in a manner that suggest Jefferts may have been framed, Bowditch receives an ominous warning from state prosecutors to stop asking questions.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's a scant few months since the action in Doiron's first mystery, The Poacher's Son, and Mike Bowditch is fighting the backlash of local opinion. It's mud season in Maine and the author skillfully turns this fact into an extremely evocative setting. (I'm still fighting the urge to run out to the porch and clean my boots.)Doiron has written a very strong mystery, and at its heart is the complicated twenty-five-year-old Mike Bowditch. Mike is quite observant, at one point telling someone who's trying to pull the wool over his eyes, "You can't have it both ways." But he's also emotionally stunted, due in part to his childhood. This causes him to behave like a teenager occasionally, so it's an interesting-- and sometimes frustrating-- mix of intelligence, determination, and adolescent angst. He certainly keeps this reader on her toes.And he will continue to do so. I've become hooked on Doiron's storytelling ability and his love of wild spaces, so I'm happy to report that it's on to the next book in this series.

[lewilliams-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this a strong sequel to The Poachers Son. Doiron does a very good job of describing the Maine backwoods. Game Warden Mike Bowditch always seems to be on the edge of being fired but manages to hang on to his job. Fans of C J Box may want to check out this series.

[labdaddy4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have been working through Doiron's novels in order after reading his last one first. I feel that this one was not as strong as the others I have read.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A friend mentioned that Paul Doiron, who writes a series with a game warden as hero much as does CJ Box, is wildly popular in Maine where this series takes place. So what the hell, I’ll try virtually anything. It’s pretty good once you get past the hunter vs the rest of us cultural baggage. Hunters apparently develop a certain paranoia for the rest of society whom they believe regard them as bambi killers so we are de rigueur treated to an explanation of why it’s important to have hunting so as to keep the populations reasonable and prevent starvation and road accidents. OK, I get it. Get over it.

Doiron’s hero is Mike Bowditch who develops a guilt complex after he failed to assist a young woman along the road who later is found dead. Whether it’s this crisis of conscience (not very well developed, I might add) or his relationship with his criminal father.

I would have rooted for Mike more had he not done so many brain-dead things like driving while under the influence of Vicodin prescribed for a hand injury and then stopping for a beer along the way even as his long-suffering girlfriend pleaded with him not to and to come right home. I suppose one could argue his foolish actions resulted from the Vicodin; nevertheless, it struck me as horribly irresponsible.

The lone hero, unappreciated and thwarted at every turn by his superiors, who manages to solve the puzzle despite rather than with-the-assistance-of-fellow-law-enforcement seems to be a formula that is beginning to wear a little thin. If you’ve read much CJ Box you will feel right at home.

[blockbuster1994 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Game Warden Bowditch is an interesting guy with a lot of baggage he still drags around from childhood. What I love about him is the aura of wildness he has; whether it is his outdoorsy nature, his gin swigging or his bad romance, the mysteries he gets entangled with are always fresh and well plotted. The Maine Coast is a perfect place of this series. Doiron has captured the desperateness of a small town dependent of tourism; the dialogue is authentic. Trepasser is an easy, entertaining read.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like characters who have a gift for making the wrong decision. Whether it's the guy who always picks trouble or the woman who just grabbed an opportunity and is digging in deeper and deeper to make it work, I find it all fascinating. Usually, the person making the wrong life choices is the bad guy, but here that guy is Mike Bowditch and he's a game warden in Maine, the guy trying to solve the crime and rescue the girl. Bowditch is hard work. He's insensitive and deliberately rude, self-righteous and a terrible boyfriend. He's got a chip on his shoulder that he refuses to deal with and he's prone to tunnel vision. He's dealing with some destructive off-roaders when he's called to haul a dead deer off the highway. When he arrives, the car that hit the animal is there, but both deer and woman are gone. A state trooper shows up and takes charge of the scene, sending Bowditch home. Bowditch leaves, but something about the situation bothers him and he finds himself going back to the scene and trying to find out what happened long after he's been told to leave it to the officers assigned to the case. He's also increasingly bothered by the scofflaw off-roaders and his attempts to deal with them grow more extreme.This was a good, quick read where the plot made sense and the author created a vivid setting in coastal Maine during March, the "mud season". Bowditch is a wonderfully conceived character. I'd never want to know him personally, but he's great fun to follow through a book as he alienates everyone around him. I did want to yell at him a few times - self-righteousness is never a good trait and being inside his head could be aggravating. That said, the supporting characters were a bit thin, from his mentor who likes to call him "young feller" to the people Bowditch dealt with as part of his job - the hardscrabble locals were rendered as caricatures in a political ad, there was not much more than an outline to any of them.

[tututhefirst_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this second installment of the (mis)adventures of Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch, Paul Doiron has given us a protagonist who is still recovering from the events in the first book of the series, The Poacher's Son. While this one could stand alone, I think readers will not grasp the full extent of Mike's inner turmoil, and the demons he is still wrestling with unless they've read the first one.The book opens when Mike is called by a demanding and irate citizen who cannot understand why the warden must follow certain procedures before just barging off to "arrest those dirt-bags."  At the same time, he is called to the scene of a car-deer encounter on a dark, foggy road (an not uncommon occurence in Maine), only to discover that the deer (presumably dead) is gone, and the driver of the vehicle is missing. When an obnoxious state trooper finally appears on the scene (he should have been the one to handle the case to begin with) and dismisses the missing driver with a remark that she was probably trying to avoid an OUI, Mike is outraged but too tired and muddy to stick around and challenge the other officer.Once at home, the niggling clues that don't fit the trooper's assessment begin to bother him, and his rebellious and hard-headed nature once again kicks in.  What happened to the girl?  Is she OK?  When he tries to find out, he meets roadblocks at every corner, while his inner radar continues to pick up vibes that something is definitely wrong.  When the girl is found dead, the town and local cops are spooked by the resemblance to another murder seven years ago.  From there on, we watch as Mike becomes a self-destructive one man posse bent on proving everyone else wrong.Girlfriend Sarah has returned, but doesn't appear inclined to make their relationship more permanent until Mike agrees to counseling.  Mike's boss Kathy has only a cameo appearance in this one, as do his old friends the retired game warden Charley and his wife Ora.  Once again, the book is replete with lush descriptions of Maine's natural settings, its wildlife, and its citizens; it shows us again the very intense and necessary role the Game Wardens play in law enforcement in Maine. There are bodies, bad guys, suspects, and bosses galore.  Doiron shows us the close relation between the local sheriffs, police departments, the state police and the game wardens.  His portrait of Maine continues to enlighten and delight, and his mystery plotting is spot-on.I do hope that Mike and Sarah can get their relationship back onto a positive track and begin moving forward.  Mike is young (he's only been a warden for two years) and he has a lot to learn in the life department, but readers have become invested in getting this young man to adulthood, and look forward to the next novel in the series.

[sleahey_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A sequel to the Poacher's Son, and the main character's anger once again puts him in self-destructive situations, which ultimately help him solve some crimes but decimate his relationships. There seems to be a new edge of cynicism regarding Maine's rural poor in this novel. This was especially evident in the audiobook version, in which the negative characters were portrayed with a (terrible!) Maine accent, while others spoke normally. I gave up after the first disk, and found the book much more palatable.

[nbmars · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was excited to see that Paul Doiron had written a second book featuring his Maine game warden Mike Bowditch. His first book, The Poacher’s Son received numerous award nominations in 2010, including the Edgar Award, the Anthony Award, the Macavity Award, the Thriller Award, and the Maine Literary Award. I was disappointed with this new one, however. Bowditch, age 25, is called to the scene when a young woman hits a deer and crashes her car on a foggy road. When he arrives, both the deer and the woman are missing. A state trooper finally comes and says he will take over processing the scene; Bowditch leaves reluctantly, convinced there has been some foul play. Later, he finds the woman's body; she has been raped, brutalized, and asphyxiated in a way remarkably similar to a crime committed seven years earlier. Homicide having been established, the state police get jurisdiction, and Bowditch is told to stay away from the investigation. But of course he can’t, and once again, he jeopardizes his relationship with his girlfriend and his colleagues by obsessing over solving the crime and by taking matters into his own hands.Discussion: I like featuring a game warden as the investigator in a crime novel. In Maine, game wardens have all the law enforcement powers and responsibilities as do state police troopers. In addition, however, they have the more unusual duties common to game wardens, such as going after game poachers, policing ATV and snowmobile use, and rescuing hikers. This adds a built-in source of interesting side issues to provide relief from the tension of the main plot line. In the first book, the author focused more on the landscape and wildlife; in this one, the problem is good-old-boy ATV’ers, which made – for me - a much less appealing side story. Plus, there are numerous references to the plot of the first book, but no full explanations. If I had not read it, I would have felt very frustrated. My final objection is that, in spite of all the plot twists and turns, the “whodunnit” was pretty darn obvious. Evaluation: I like the concept behind this book, and am hoping that the third in the series will return to the clarity and emphasis on nature that made the first book such a standout.

[slarsoncollins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I got this one as part of a goodreads giveaway. I'm glad I did. Solid characters (I think I liked the various bad guys more than the protagonist :) ), great plot with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing, and fantastic climax. Wonderful read that I'd recommend to anyone who likes mysteries/thrillers.

[ethel55_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Maine Game Warden for less than two years, Mike Bowditch seems determined to stick his fingers into every catastrophic event that happens near his little corner of the world. Still famous for the events that concluded with his father's death, Mike seems wary when a car/deer collision results in no deer or driver. The mystery brings up a murder case from seven years previous, one in which many believe the wrong man was imprisoned. I liked the return of pilot Charley, his time with Mike seems comforting and I think Mike needs that type of mentor in his life. This was a fairly riveting read for me and I felt like things were being revealed slowly to me, as they were for Mike.

[dhaupt_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mike Bowditch, Maine Game Warden, is not what you’d call an exemplary employee, he’s earned a reputation as a hot headed rule breaker during his last case involving his father and unfortunately it’s still following him, the one good thing to come out of all of this is his rekindled relationship with his girlfriend Sarah who has decided to move back into the home they once shared. Mike gets called to a deer/car accident where the woman driver is mysteriously missing and amidst all his other cases and along with his mentor Charley he gets pulled deeper and deeper into this one when it seems that the other agencies involved brush it aside. When the woman is found murdered there are many similarities to a murder case from years ago a case where a local man is still imprisoned for the crime. Mike is unaware of the danger he is putting himself in by nosing around in this case, but he will soon find out, if he survives.I first met Mr. Doiron during the discussion of his first novel about Mike Bowditch with First Look group at B&N.com book clubs and was very impressed not only with his characters but his exquisite descriptions of the Maine wilderness and wildlife, he made the novel very real for me with his words. This novel is no less descriptive and captivating as from the very first page he has me wondering where the path is leading to and who will live and who will die in his second thriller. The plot pulls you right in with the mysterious disappearance and he keeps us enthralled with the twists and turns not just of this story line but the others that he introduces us too as well. The narrative is a study in Maine wildlife habitat and lifestyle between the haves the have nots and the in betweens filled with dialogue that matches each to perfection. The characters are all excellent and we learn more about our protagonist and what makes him tick as we watch him slowly and at times painfully climb to his potential. Mr. Doiron’s other characters are a study of human nature and sociology, we also in this novel get to know the enigmatic Sarah who we only met peripherally last time.If you like investigations that take on a somewhat environmental view of mystery and thrillers you will like this. If you like being on the front lines when a new series is started, here is only number two. If you love a great mystery, a drama and a protagonist who’s not perfect give this series a try.This reads well as a stand a lone, but my suggestion is to read The Poacher’s Son when you’re through with this and find out all about Mike from the beginning.Mr. Doiron I am now anxiously waiting for number three.

[susiesharp_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another hit for Paul Doiron! Game Warden Mike Bowditch still reeling from the events in The Poacher’s Son (If you haven’t read it what are you waiting for?) and once again steps into an investigation he should be staying out of, the murder of a young woman which has similarities to a decade old case for which someone is already serving time for. Is the right man in prison? Is this a copycat? And why does Mike seem to find trouble everywhere he goes??!!??I so enjoy Paul’s writing he kept me guessing all the way through this one, I didn’t know who did it until the reveal! It was so great to be back in touch with the characters from the Poacher’s Son including Charley & Ora. This is going to be a series I will stick with till the end because Mike Bowditch has a lot of work to do on himself, his relationship with Sarah and to try to stop getting in trouble with his superior officers so he keeps his job, but that’s what makes this a great series, the characters are flawed and human ,he has so much growing to do it will be great to see his progress!I highly recommend starting with the Poacher’s Son before you read this one just for the character background you will be hooked on this series just as I am!Full Disclosure: I received this from the GoodReads Giveaway Program5 Stars