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Thirst: An Alex Graham novel Paperback – February 18, 2016

by Katherine Prairie (Author)

4.3 19 ratings

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All eyes are on the dams. The truth lies elsewhere.

Explosive violence rocks Canada’s Slocan Valley after the shooting deaths of three teenagers in a bombing attempt at the Keenleyside dam. A joint U.S.-Canada military force locks down the Valley to protect Columbia River dams critical to both countries but martial law incites more violence.

Geologist Alex Graham refuses to let politics stand in her way. She evades military patrols to slip into a restricted zone in her hunt for a silver mine to claim as her own. But her plans are derailed by an intentionally set fire that almost takes her life.

Someone wants her out of the Slocan Valley.

When Alex discovers a gunshot victim in an abandoned mine, she fears she could be next. But she’s never been one to wait for trouble to come to her, and she tracks a suspicious man seen once too often in the lonely mountains.

All eyes are on the dams but the truth lies elsewhere.

Whistler Independent Book Award Nominee (2017)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"THIRST leads the reader down a literary mineshaft where oxygen is running low and time short. Flavoured with insider expertise and a natural storyteller's flair, THIRST is a gripping and fun ride."-Daniel Kalla, bestselling author of NIGHTFALL OVER SHANGHAI

"With compelling characters and an extraordinary setting, THIRST is a fast-paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last word."-R.J. Harlick, author of the popular Meg Harris mystery series

"THIRST not only goes where other detective/thrillers fall short; it provides a rivetingly absorbing story line that's hard to put down."-D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Author Katherine Prairie brings her own experience as an international geologist to the Alex Graham thriller series. Her debut novel Thirst was shortlisted for the Whistler Independent Book Award, and the much-anticipated sequel, Blue Fire, was an Adventure Writers Competition semifinalist, and a shortlisted title for the International Rubery Book Award. She is an award-winning presenter, the founding president of Sisters in Crime - Canada West, and a past Crime Writers of Canada director. To learn more about Katherine and Alex, the woman who keeps her up at night, visit katherineprairie.com

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stonedrift Press Ltd. (February 18, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0994937709
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0994937704
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.83 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #8,669,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,460 in Terrorism Thrillers (Books)
- #13,968 in Women's Adventure Fiction (Books)
- #22,241 in Crime Action & Adventure

Customer Reviews:
4.3 19 ratings

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Katherine Prairie

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Katherine brings her own experience as an international geologist to the Alex Graham thriller series. An avid traveller with an insatiable curiosity, you never know where you’ll find her next! But most days, she’s in Kingston, Canada quietly plotting murder and mayhem under the watchful eye of a cat.

Her debut novel Thirst was shortlisted for the 2017 Whistler Independent Book Awards, and Blue Fire was shortlisted for the International Rubery Book Award and was a semi-finalist in the Adventure Writers Competition in 2019.

She is an award-winning presenter and you'll often find her delivering workshops at local writing festivals and conferences. She is also the author of a technical book, The Essential PROC SQL Handbook for SAS Users, published by SAS Press.

Active in the writing community, Katherine has served as the founding president of Sisters in Crime (Canada West), and a director and regional representative of Crime Writers of Canada.

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KSUE ANDERSON

Great Read

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

Loved the characters and found the plot to be very timely and with just enough twists to keep me enthralled. I had a hard time putting the book down until I finished it. Would love to hear more about Alex's adventures! Loved the location and there was just enough information about a geologist's work to be interesting but not too much to bog down the story.

Helpful

Sharon G. Mensing

Tense Action in Canada's Slocan Valley

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016

Geologist Alex Graham is looking for silver veins in Canada’s Slocan Valley, near the Columbia River dams, a militarized zone. After three teenagers had attempted to blow up one of the dams, and the police had killed them in the process, the U.S.-Canadian treaty protecting the dams was invoked. Now, the entire area around the river and dams is under heavy protection from both countries’ military forces. Alex, working inside the “perimeter,” is attacked but works hard to cover up her prospecting activities for fear of military reprisal.

As she seeks help for the burns she sustained during the attack, she becomes involved in trying to solve an organophosphate poisoning case that may be a window into an impending bioterrorism attack. The suspense builds as murders occur and Alex and her team continue to avoid involving the police as they try to investigate on their own.

The Canadians are very unhappy about what they see as U.S. military interference, and acts of terrorism like blowing up buildings only serve to escalate the tension. There is an aspect of the book that makes one think of a dystopian novel with the almost robotic, tough American soldiers exerting control over the Canadian populace in the Slocan Valley. But other than those soldiers, the characters are well developed and their relationships make sense.

Katherine Prairie is at her best when writing the tense action scenes, and the book opens with one of these, quickly pulling the reader in. The location comes alive, and the sense of oppression and the affect it has on the residents of the area feel very real. Just a tad too much of the explication is passed along in dialog rather than being incorporated into the plot for my taste. There are multiple story lines running through the book, with some tied up well by the end and others left open. It appears that Prairie may be planning a series and is allowing some space to return to Alex Graham’s exploits.

Thank you to netgalley for making a review copy of this book available to me.

Helpful

Glenda

Fascinating Thrilling Debut!

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2017

I was happy to have found the author's article on "Sense of Place" because from the time I met Geologist Alex Graham, I found myself reminiscent of a favorite series of mine by Nevada Barr, with Anna Pigeon, a park ranger, who spent most of her professional life outdoors and getting into action-packed situations! By the time I'd finished the book, I was hoping that this was the beginning of a series as well. Alex Graham is edgy, tough, courageous, but also a concerned woman who has found her life in an on-the-edge balance of obeying the law and keeping the secrecy needed to do her job...

It was going a little over the edge when she first faced danger. There had been several bombings of dams along the Columbia River and a combined military force from Canada and the U.S. had invaded the area...a perimeter along the river and dams had been established--Alex had chosen to camp within that perimeter. Her tent had been set on fire!

Alex was seriously burned on her arms but was able to get out of her tent, take what she could, and get to the hospital for treatment. She met Eric Keenan who was the ER doctor that night and had hedged about where she had been and that her tent had been set on fire as opposed to an accident. He didn't quite believe her, but allowed her to leave without reporting the incident.

There's a good reason for Alex's need for secrecy. She has been offered the first right of purchase of a series of mine rights from the widow of a friend who had just died. But she had a deadline. Given the routine prospector activities in the area, Alex could not afford to be followed, but she also felt she had to inspect the involved mines since the price was very high... Still, she really needed to know who and why she had been targeted, since it obviously was not the police who would have just arrested her for entering the perimeter...

It was Eric Keenan who pulled her further into what was happening there... Dr. Keenan had treated a woman in the ER and sent her home. She returned days later displaying unusual symptoms that he began to worry about. When he began to think it was poisoning, he had started working on another patient with the same symptoms. His first patient died, but he'd gone with his assumptions and given an antidote to the second. Should he report this potential community-wide danger? His boss decided for him, saying not until the diagnosis had been proven to be correct. He needed water samples and anything else that could be dangerous from the first victim's home. Thinking of Alex's skills, he contacted her. She found it alright...

Eric is called away case as another bomb exploded and destroyed a building right in town. While Alex, on calling into her home office was told that there would be more help sent out right away... She decided that was really a good idea, but when they arrived, she immediately felt personally responsible for their safety, given what was happening...

She had a right to be concerned because on a first trip out to work, they discovered a backpack, an earring, and blood on rocks in a nearby stream... Deciding they'd better check it out further (they'd heard a gunshot while still in camp earlier), they soon had found a body, obviously taken into a mine from the scene at the creek side... Only thing is that RCMP officer who arrived didn't really want to listen to their theories... But after they left, one of the men became very ill.....

The variety of the action found in this book is not easily followed for purposes of trying to determine who is at fault...why was one woman apparently murdered by poison? While another seemed to merely to have been some place at the wrong time, while our main character was simply camping in a spot where she admittedly shouldn't have been...but why was she almost killed by a fire for being there?

Then there is the bombings, which in a past one, was done by teenagers, but all of them? And where would they get the actual bombs being used? Why were they targeting dams?

Packed full of actions that keeps readers on their toes. This is not the traditional mystery, except confirming the answer of "why?" to each event. But that doesn't keep readers from being totally caught up when the multiple events keep happening...

Foolishly, somebody had made a big mistake in trying to set Alex Graham on fire. For once she was pulled in again and again, she became the pivotal person around each of the activities which began to merge into a viable conclusion. Whew! I was caught turning page after page into the late hours of the night to finish this quite satisfying novel by a new fiction writer...

The author has added a final note to provide the specifics of the historical reality regarding the Columbia River Treaty and all other facets included in the book. Small issues such as the desire to change the treaty to allow salmon their natural runs, as well as the concerns of Native Americans, were effectively slid into the story to make it a comprehensive, thoughtful look at this neighbor-to-neighbor relationship with Canada. For many of us, an important topic considered smack in the middle of a fantastic thriller... A unique experience that can be savored, while looking forward to the next alex graham novel... Highly recommended.

GABixlerReviews
Paperback Received for Review

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Lupine Smile

Thirst Left Me Wanting More

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2016

Stonedrift Press Ltd. and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Thirst, in exchange for an honest review.

When a night on the mountain turns dangerous, Alex Graham must keep her mind focused and her wits sharp in order to survive. As a geologist, she is hired by clients to retrieve valuable gold or silver, outside or inside the restricted perimeter near the Columbia River dams. Providing hydroelectric power and certain natural resources to two countries, the river is of the utmost importance. When one of the dams was bombed, a joint security effort from the United States and Canadian forces was crucial. After Alex is asked for help regarding a potentially dangerous health scare, an unexpected connection to an old crime threatens both her safety and that of the whole town.

Thirst is a fictional story based in certain facts - namely, the Columbia River treaty between the United States and Canada is real and the problems outlined in this book could potentially happen. I liked Alex Graham as a main character, but I wished that the author had gone into more of her background. Her expertise as a geologist are very much in need in this book, but the author really just touches the surface of why Alex has chosen such a dangerous profession. The pacing was good and the premise was thought provoking. The ending of Thirst hinted at a sequel and I would be interested in seeing where author Katherine Prairie takes her characters into the future.

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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer

I really enjoyed this novel

Reviewed in Canada on August 15, 2016

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this novel. I hope it is the first of many in an "Alex Graham" series. I am not ordinarily a fan of the suspense/crime genre, but I am happily making an exception for this effort. The pacing was great, and I couldn't put it down.

BMR

Great to see a new sleuth anchored in Western Canada

Reviewed in Canada on March 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

Thirst

Great to see a new sleuth anchored in Western Canada, and I look forward to more adventures with Alex Graham.
This first in the series is well-written and fast-paced, with short chapters adding to the suspense. With a female protagonist, the story depends more on intelligence than brawny gore for its suspense. I especially appreciate the degree of research done by the author, not only in her own field of geology, but in ER procedures and on a very important international treaty. It's all very scarily believable!

Amazon Customer

Suspense in western Canada.

Reviewed in Canada on March 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

Thirst
Well written suspense novel by a new Canadian author. This is the first book in a soon to be series. Suspense and strong characters within a western Canadian setting. A very enjoyable read.

dawnegypsy

Would strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read suspense ...

Reviewed in Canada on March 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

A refreshing suspense novel from a promising new Canadian author. A very enjoyable read and I am looking forward, with anticipation, to reconnecting with the key characters introduced to readers in this first novel. Also quite a startling story that unfolds in our own backyard, which is a unique experience. Would strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read suspense novels.

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