The Rope

Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Nevada Barr finally reveals the story that her fans have been clamoring for: Anna Pigeon's first case. In 1995—35 years old, fresh off the bus from New York City, and nursing a broken heart—Anna Pigeon takes a decidedly unglamorous job as a seasonal employee of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. On her day off, Anna goes hiking into the park never to return. Her co-workers think she's simply moved on; her cabin is cleaned out and her things are gone. But Anna herself wakes up, trapped at the bottom of a dry natural well, naked, without supplies and no clear memory of how she found herself in this situation. As she slowly pieces together her memory, it soon becomes clear that someone has trapped her there, in an inescapable prison, and no one knows that she is even missing. Plunged into a landscape and a plot she is unfit and untrained to handle, Anna Pigeon must muster the courage, determination and will to live that she didn't even know she still possessed to survive, outwit and triumph. For those legions of readers who have been entranced over the years by Park Ranger Anna Pigeon's strength and determination, and for those who are new to Nevada Barr's captivating, compelling series, The Rope is where it all starts.