Mike Bowditch Books In Order

Publication Order of Mike Bowditch Books

The Mike Bowditch series is written by award winning novelist Paul Doiron from America. The novel is based on the life of the central character named Mike Bowditch, who works as a game warden and patrols the wilderness of Maine. Mike always remains on the hunt throughout the series trying to find missing people or solving crimes.

The first novel of the series was titled, ‘ The Poacher’s Son’, introduces the character of Mike Bowditch and was released in the year 2010. This novel was nominated for the prestigious Edgar Award. The second installment of the series was titled, ‘Trespasser’ and was published in the year 2011.

In this novel, Mike is shown trying to find a missing woman and during the course of the hunt, he comes across an experienced killer. Almost all the novels of the series have been awarded or nominated for some of the other awards.

Author Paul Doiron has received much appreciation for his depiction of characters in the series. The following are the details of the first couple of novels of the series:

In the first novel of the series, a suspenseful plot is shown where a son, Mike Bowditch is on the hunt for his own father. The novel is set in the wilderness of Maine and introduces Mike Bowditch as a game warden. One evening, when Mike returns home, he hears the voice of his father, Jack on his answering machine. Mike’s father is a womanizer and a hard drinker. He earns his living by doing illegal poaching.

The next day, Mike receives a call from the police who inform him that a local police officer has been murdered. The police are searching for the murderer and Jack is their prime suspect. Somehow, Jack escapes from the police custody and runs to save his life. Although Mike has no feelings for his father, somewhere in his heart believes that he might not be the one who killed the police officer.

Jack is aware of the brutal nature of his father as he has had a haunted past because of him. But, he doubts about him being a killer. Being left by the woman he loved and the colleagues he trusted, Jack moves into the wilderness of Maine to avoid getting arrested for the crime that he believes he has not committed.

Mike becomes desperate to save his father and in the process becomes lonely as everyone else believes that his father is the real killer. He joins hands with a retired warden pilot and the two decide to go into the Maine wilderness in search of Jack. They meet a woman who introduces herself to be the mistress of Jack. But, she seems to be hiding a dangerous secret. Mike has only one way of saving his father, by finding the real killer. He gets determined to do so by suspecting everyone he knows and cares about and putting them in the line of fire.

The suspense and thrill of the plot were praised by many noteworthy authors. Famous reviewers like the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews and many others gave great reviews to the debut novel written by Paul Doiron. The success of the novel can also be appreciated by the fact that the novel went on to receive many prestigious awards and nominations. A few grand nominations include the Anthony Award, Edgar Award, Thriller Award for the Best First Novel, Maine Literary Award for the Best Fiction Novel in the year 2010 and the Macavity Award. The novel also went on to receive awards such as the Strand Critics Award for the Best First Novel and the Barry Award.

In the second novel of the series named, ‘Trespasser’, Paul Doiron has described the character of Mike Bowditch to be in the quest of finding a woman who is missing. The search leads Mike to a forest full of lies at every instance and comes across a killer who got away with a murder previously. At the start of the novels, Mike is shown patrolling in a foggy evening in the month of March.

He receives a call informing him about a woman who goes missing from a lonely road. When he arrives at the crime scene, he finds a deer that has been struck by a car with blood spread all over the road. But, both the woman and the deer are missing from the crime scene. The assigned trooper seems unconcerned about the accident. A similar crime was reported a few years back when a man named Erland Jefferts is convicted of rape and murder of a college student. But when the missing girl is found in a brutalized manner, Mike comes to the conclusion that Jefferts might have been framed. But he is asked to keep quiet and not ask questions about the conviction.

Mike believes that there is some connection between the two incidents. He begins to do investigations and bring out the truth. His life was recently affected by an act of violence and fears that if goes ahead with the investigation, his life might become miserable.

More than himself, Mike cares about the life of the woman he loves. But all these things do not cause Mike to stop with the investigation and soon he realizes that his opponents are very powerful. They would go far enough to stop him from bringing the real killer to justice.

The novel too received great appreciation from the top reviewers. Leading journals like Library Journal and RT Book Reviews gave high ratings to the novel. The characters seemed very realistic.

The author has very beautifully described the scenery of Maine, which compels the readers to read in an interesting way. The motivation in the book is liked many. The readers have given great reviews of the story and the plot of the novel. Apart from all these appreciations, the government of Maine has also rewarded Paul for his efforts in describing the natural scenery of Maine in his books. The novel sold a number of copies worldwide.